Re wind damage, JM wrote:

I woke up to find a hawthorn tree across my driveway. Had to shift it
without the benefit of heavy-duty gloves (emphasis on 'thorn' in the tree's
name), as to buy some I would have had to get my car past the bloody
thing...

Good thing I've got a decent saw though. Have now bought those gloves that
I had been meaning to get...

Glad to hear that was the worst of it. But that reminds me to ask...

I'm about to take over about a third of an acre of what's meant to be
wooded paddock, but is largely overrun at ground level by brambles. The
previous owner has managed to return some of it to grass, but has really
only, er, scratched the surface of the problem.

How can I finish the job, as permanently as possible?

By the time we get in there, the new spring growth will be well under
way, so the first problem will be to clear the existing growth and try
to knock the main roots back. Gardening books and websites talk about
slicing around the roots of each plant - fine in a flower bed, but I
will need quicker and more drastic methods.

Obviously it will then be a life sentence of mowing, mowing, mowing to
keep the suckers down... but that's the way of it. We'll be sure to
leave a small area to reward ourselves with blackberry pies.

Any specific brand recommendations about genuinely thornproof gloves,
strong enough to let you grab a bramble sucker and haul on it?


--
Ian White
Abingdon, England