North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Lawrence F. London, Jr." <lfl@intrex.net>]

Subject: Re: [permaculture] [Fwd: Re: [NAFEX] re: shade for blackberries]
Date: Tue, 22 Oct 2002 16:22:37 -0600
From: "Kelly Finigan" <kfinigan@telus.net>
To: permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org

Caragana are used all over the place here.

> Perhaps one of the Prairie members could comment on how invasive
> caragana might be. It is used considerably in shelterbelt plantings
> on the Prairies.

When European pioneers came to the prairies (1890's to 1910's) they brought
caragana with them and used them to set up windbreaks. I've seen lots of
quite well-behaved shelterbelts around here (they don't get rampantly out of
control).

> Caragana is a legume and nitrogen-fixing. I understand the Russians
> have found that it promotes the growth of poplars when they are grown
> together. I have only seen it at the Dominion Arboretum in Ottawa. It
> seemed to me that the foliage was relatively sparse and the shade
> cast correspondingly light.

Yup, its a nitrogen-fixer from Russia. It promotes growth of nearby plants.
I wouldn't describe the foliage as sparse though, nor the shade as light.
Sitting in the shade of a row of caraganas is quite fine on a 35C day. I
don't know if they'll shade blackberries though, because blackberries are
seldom seen around here.

> I have read of proposals for use of the pea-like seeds of caragana by
> allowing chickens to run beneath them but I don't know of anyone who
> has practical experience with this. Possibly someone could be found
> on the permaculture list.

I haven't seen anyone do this, but I think Mollison has a sketch with
caragana and chicken runs. I HAVE heard of Russians eating the beans, either
as vegetable or ground as flour. I have eaten some of the beans and found a
range of flavours - from nice to quite bitter. Maybe a potential to select
good tasting varieties and breed for perennial protein?

The bushes (normally 10 to 30 feet tall) can also be coppiced and then form
very thick hedges good for keeping people (or animals) in/out.

ciao,
Kelly

Kelly Finigan, M.Sc. P.Eng., Permaculture Designer
Essential Elements Inc.
744 - 4 Street NW       Calgary, Alberta, Canada         T2N 1P2
1-403-283-7270           fax 283-9783     kfinigan@telus.net
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L.F.London
lfl@intrex.net
http://market-farming.com
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