To: "permaculture" <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: Re: [permaculture] Curly dock - rumex crispus, uses of
Date: Sun, 10 Aug 2003 20:20:05 +0200
> Is curly dock a perennial?
sure is
> Does it have food or forage value?
quite an o.k. spinach, but toxic if raw (and man i sure know what i am
saying - after making nice veggies a few times i once fixed a gib salad of
the crisp leaves, a trace of onion and plenty of pumpkinseed oil - i hated
my guts for 24 hours and got sick for years (literally) if only seeing curly
dock stands out from a train window...
> The seeds it sets are abundant and probably long lived in the soil.
50+ years it is said
forget plowing. if you plow you end up with zillions of tiny plants - each
rootsegment sprouts. but if you keep improving the soil i would expect
succession to move on...eventually. but it is gug fairly easy.
> I am thinking of leaving it as permanent cover, to alternate with the rye
that will inevitably follow and flourish for over eight months
> alongside it. When I need more space for crops of trees I can easily
remove portions of it, For the long haul it may keep other problem
> weeds in check, protect and build the soil aand help control erosion on
slopes.
sounds good. keep us posted!
keep growing,
georg
P.S.: the mettle seeds are about ready - hope they dont irradiate incoming
mail in bigbrotherland. would need a snailmail adress.