Garden and Yellow Jackets

We live on a hill in Orinda, California. Have about an acre property. It is a lovely area, however when we moved in the yard was an overgrown mess. I have spent years cutting, trimming, pulling trying to re-claim the yard. Our yard is full of sticker bushes, old long viney vinca, and poison oak. There were grapes, but the vines were so high you couldn't reach any grapes. They were growing high to find some sun. The vines actually reached across to other trees and we had HALLWAYS to walk under. When we finally had the grapevines pulled down, we discovered fir trees - one a blue spruce! under the grapes that we didn't even know were there. That is how overgrown it was. There was an area of blackberries about 20 ft by 12 ft. I clipped those vines back bit by bit until I got rid of them. We had/have trees of poison oak. I have had poison oak so many times I can't count. I am highly allergic to it. But not as allergic as my husband who seems to internalize it.

I have a war against poison oak every year. I have cut it out and sprayed killer on it. But our property is up against other who don't clear the wooded area between our houses. So while I am trying to clean out the poison oak, it still is hanging over our yards from the houses next door. I have been known to go clip theirs back as well - only to protect ours.

Our dirt is clay, clay, clay. Deep cracks every summer. I plant things and it is like the ground makes a clay pot around it. Plants seldom grow larger. When we re-modeled the house before moving in, we had top soil brought in. The first winter of rain all of it ended up on the patio as the water just drug it down over the top of the clay. It is a gardener's nightmare.

Did I mention the live oak trees? We live under 5 huge live oak trees which constantly rain little leaves down everywhere all year long. No change of a water element to the yard - it would be filled with leaves.

The nice side of it is that we have a wooded view and deer travel through the yard all the time. I don't have to have curtains at my windows. In fact, 3 deer (one a fawn) just went through the yard as I was typing this. Of course, I have to watch my flowers on the patio. But I discovered a product called "Liquid Fence" that works well.

Did I mention the rocks? Rocks everywhere. We have ruined more lawn mowers as the ground is uneven and rocks are hidden in the weeds everywhere. We have taken to weedwhacking the entire yard - an acre! in order to keep the sticker plants down. My husband recently saw the new weedwhackers that are on wheels and decided we should get one. He tried it out this morning and had me come out and try it myself. I did - and while I was pushing it along under the trees, he ran something down the hill to the driveway. I suddenly felt something hit my jaw and thought the machine had thrown out a small rock at me. But then I felt another, and another, and then saw the yellow jackets heading my way. I screamed for Dale and started to run, but had to run back and turn off the machine. My husband run up as I was running down and saw at once the bees all over me. He helped me into the house and into the bathroom where we stripped off my clothes, him trying to kill the bees as they were all over. One flew up his shorts and stung him on this thigh. I got quite a few stings on my jaw and neck and scalp.

Dead bees on the floor of the shower when I got out. He killed them out of my clothes and shoes. I am lucky that I didn't have more stings.

We just hired a gardener to put in a sprinkler system and to landscape the yard nearest the patio and bedroom - the area you can see in the pictures attached. After my latest bout with poison oak, my husband said, "That's it - we are getting a gardener." 10 years of poison oak and finally a gardener. But it didn't save me today.

Not a great day. But Dale did bring me a glass of wine to mellow me out after my shower. Benadryl gel, ibuprofen and a glass of wine.