Fingerlakespermaculture mailing list

[joel gagnon <joelpgagnon AT hotmail.com>]

What direction does the slope face? Even if it has no overhead shade, the direction it faces will make a considerable difference in what plants would be happy there.

Joel Gagnon

> Date: Tue, 10 Aug 2010 16:47:17 -0400
> From: simonstl AT simonstl.com
> To: fingerlakespermaculture AT lists.ibiblio.org
> Subject: permaculture of the ditch
>
> I'm wondering if there are visible and perhaps useful things we can do
> with the edges of property most exposed to the public. This list is
> usually a little more meta than that, but I wonder...
>
> In a hot year when we planned to do very little gardening (we had a
> newborn and have a two-year-old), I've found myself doing lots of work
> between 6:00 and 8:00am. Even more to my surprise, I've been doing a
> lot of that work near the road in front of my house, Route 366.
>
> I have a short hill (10'?) sloping down to a ditch before the road. The
> state DOT mows from the road into the ditch once or twice a year, and
> that area also gets lots of salt and salt spray in winter. Occasionally
> the state scrapes out the ditch, though they've skipped my stretch for a
> while. There's also the unfortunate regular appearance of pollutants,
> from oil and gasoline to antifreeze and litter - even occasionally
> concrete if a truck has to stop there for some reason.
>
> Josh Dolan and I refrained from planting food crops on the hillside,
> though some elderberries have appeared and I'm content to leave them
> there. I'm mostly doing decorative shade garden work (and poison ivy
> removal) on the hill, though the Edible Forest Garden has been a helpful
> guide even for that.
>
> My hard question is the side of the ditch that goes to the road. Cars
> don't get much of an impression, apart from the whiskey barrel of
> impatiens the Varna Community Association put there, but pedestrians
> certainly see it, and I'd like to create some kind of reward for their
> patience in walking that stretch.
>
> Are there plants more appealing and perhaps productive than goldenrods,
> ragweed, teasel, and garlic mustard that currently survive in that
> environment? Are there examples of work people have already done that I
> could consider for inspiration?
>
> I'm not looking for serious design here, just a rough idea of whether
> this is possible enough to be worth investing some time. I'm happy to
> experiment, and share the results.
>
> Thanks,
> --
> Simon St.Laurent
> http://simonstl.com/
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