permaculture

["Mike Skinner (Easy Hay)" <EasyHay@arn.net>]

Title: Re: Bind weed

 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: PINC [mailto:pinc@svn.net]
Sent: Friday, August 18, 2000 11:04 AM
To: permaculture
Subject: RE: Bind weed

 

I sheet mulched it with cardboard and newspaper in the spring. By the time it emerges mid summer, most of the oomph is taken out of it and it becomes a nice green ground cover and doesn't have enough energy to twine up the plants. Other places it has been shaded out. I have never seen it grow vigorously under plants like comfrey and rhubarb.  It also prefers compacted soil (according to an article I read about it). Once the soil is cushy and soft, it is easy to pull. Digging & cultivating also propagates it. We don’t' dig we only fork which lifts the roots out better Good luck!

 

The above fits what I’ve noticed farming. Don’t plow it! Always clean off machinery of bindweed before moving

to another field. It likes compacted ground, too. I recall Bill cardboard sheet mulching with straw in the Texas panhandle years ago at our once

Panhandle permaculture group at Mary Ememy’s Maybe Scott was there?? Shading it out, not letting it get sun

has got to be bad for it, but Bushland, Tx USDA advises one to plow, even on certain times of the moon. But,

anyone could figure that’s bad for tilth.

 

So, in an effort to always think of uses for bales, Arina, what about spreading the mini-bales on the ground solid,

possibly laying cardboard, then poking holes thru the cardboard into the bales and planting a viney crop. Better

yet, I could place viney seeds (or grass, etc), into the bales, then they could be watered  like a Chia pet? Unfortunately,

I can’t make bales with string,  only wire, so it would be best to remove the wires, first. But viney plants usually

only take one to four seeds per six foot hill, but I’m thinkin’! Austrian Winter Peas could be placed in the bales, in

conjunction, as well. I might use the Chia bale idea with grass for when land around pipelines or highways is replanted,

grinding and blowing the straw mulch and seeds thru the special mulching machine. Same for strawberries. Sorry

for getting off topic a little and beating my on drum…..

Mike