Joao Winckler

Funny how nobody has actually weighed any. Hugo's point about them springing back for a second cut sounds like where the real yield is, since you'd get the soft spring growth and then another go later in the summer. Probably worth cutting the same patch each time and jotting the dates down so the numbers mean something year to year.

Sounds like getting two more in spring is the right call. I've always understood sand cherries crop much better with a few plants close together for pollination, so a lone bush can sit there leafy and fruitless for years. The early rabbit and deer nibbling probably set it back a bit too. Curious to hear how the new ones do.

Willow is daft easy to root so I reckon the fascine idea John mentioned sounds like the safer bet for you. Bundled and staked down so nothing can roll, then the micro hugel bit can sit behind it. Depends how hard that bank actually floods I suppose.

Only roots I've really had to think about are fruit tree rootstocks. Dwarfing ones like M9 stay shallow and need a stake forever, seedling stock goes deep and anchors itself. Never looked at it as erosion control though, that's a good angle for a prototype area.

Nancy, from what I've seen the patience dock leaves are broader and flatter, more like a big floppy spinach leaf, where curly dock has that frilly wavy edge. Johann's point about it getting chewed up is interesting though, I'd have assumed a dock would shrug that off.

Useful to know they are tuberous roots and not tubers, I'd have assumed you could chop them up and replant like Jerusalem artichokes. Sounds like one for the flower border first and the kitchen second.

Carla's trick of asking the electric company is a good one, tree surgeons will often tip a load for free too if you're close by. Nancy's trample-the-pile idea sounds worth a go as well, saves any chipping at all and the noise issue goes away.

Barbara, only one of six fruiting after a few years sounds about normal for persimmons, they seem to take their time. With that many trees going in over different years it's worth writing down which is which and when each one first flowered, I built leaftide.com for keeping that sort of record on my own fruit trees. Hope the Valeen Beauty gets jammier as it settles in.

Second the top dressing and mulch route. Honestly the worms do the digging for you and your back gets a rest, which is a nice bonus. Only time I'd bother forking anything in is brand new compacted ground.

Second what Anne said on spacing. They wander further than you'd think once the tops flop over and root, so I'd keep a few somewhere you don't mind them taking over. 120 pounds a year is a lot of onions though, that's a proper staple.