Search...
Home Subscribe
Pie
Home Subscribe
Recent topics Flagged topics Hot topics Best topics
Search...
Search within tips for awkward spots Search permies
Advance search Google search
Register / Login
Gardening playing cards kickstarter Eco-friendly wood stoves Full online Permaculture Design course and Appropriate Technology Course video Rocket Mass Heaters Free heat permaculture bootcamp sketch of boots
  • Post Reply Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic
permaculture forums growies critters building homesteading energy monies kitchen purity ungarbage community wilderness fiber arts art permaculture artisans regional education skip experiences global resources cider press projects digital market permies.com pie forums private forums all forums
Gardening playing cards kickstarter Thread boost superman Permaculture bootcamp with people wielding tools Free heat movie Full online Permaculture Design course and Appropriate Technology Course video
this forum made possible by our volunteer staff, including ...
master stewards:
  • Carla Burke
  • Nancy Reading
  • John F Dean
  • paul wheaton
  • r ranson
  • Timothy Norton
  • Jay Angler
stewards:
  • Andrés Bernal
  • Pearl Sutton
  • Anne Miller
master gardeners:
  • Christopher Weeks
gardeners:
  • M Ljin
  • Jeremy VanGelder
  • thomas rubino

Woody perennial choices for a spot that gets flattened with snow?

 
Mike Haasl
steward
Posts: 16019
Location: Northern WI (zone 4)
5120
8
I like...
hunting trees books food preservation solar woodworking
posted 5 years ago
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
I have a nice spot with sun 3/4 of the day.  Unlike the rest of my property, this spot isn't well drained, it's probably slightly damp.  I planted a black currant there last summer and it seemed to do ok.  I'd like to expand the planting, the area is about 15' by 20'.  

The issue is that a nearby lean to roof attached to a barn dump tons of snow on the place.  Even now in mid April it's still buried under 1-3 feet of snow.  I don't know if the currant will spring back up or suffer from this abuse.

This could be an advantage for a plant that needs to be insulated (figs?).

I know I could do many herbaceous plants but I'm hoping for more shrubby things.  Trees might be an option if they can survive the avalanches in the first few years.

I'm in zone 4a.  Any ideas?

I make a Maple Syrup instructional movie! Check it out HERE
SKIP books, get 'em while they're hot!!! Skills to Inherit Property
See me in a movie building a massive wood staircase:Low Tech Lab Movie

 
Mike Haasl
steward
Posts: 16019
Location: Northern WI (zone 4)
5120
8
I like...
hunting trees books food preservation solar woodworking
posted 5 years ago
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Here's a pic from yesterday
The-currant-bush-is-under-that-pile-somewhere....jpg
The currant bush is under that pile somewhere...
The currant bush is under that pile somewhere...

I make a Maple Syrup instructional movie! Check it out HERE
SKIP books, get 'em while they're hot!!! Skills to Inherit Property
See me in a movie building a massive wood staircase:Low Tech Lab Movie

 
Eric Hanson
Steward and Man of Many Mushrooms
Posts: 5816
Location: Southern Illinois
1723
I like...
transportation cat dog fungi trees building writing rocket stoves woodworking
posted 5 years ago
  • Likes 2
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Hey Mike,

Do you just want a bush or do you want something to eat?  Either way, I would be tempted to think about a blueberry bush.  Once established, they might live a century.  I planted some in some low ground and the ones that took are seemingly there for good.

Eric

Some places need to be wild

 
Mike Haasl
steward
Posts: 16019
Location: Northern WI (zone 4)
5120
8
I like...
hunting trees books food preservation solar woodworking
posted 5 years ago
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Oh, yes, something permaculturey.  So food would be my first preference, followed by either pollination services or herbs.  

Do you think a blueberry can handle getting squashed?  It's moist enough for them...  Aronia would like the moisture but I'm pretty sure they're too brittle for the crush of snow.  Elderberry?

I'm just not sure what is flexible enough to handle flattening...

Oh, and I don't want raspberries or blackberries.  Plenty of them growing wild plus cultivated ones elsewhere on the property

I make a Maple Syrup instructional movie! Check it out HERE
SKIP books, get 'em while they're hot!!! Skills to Inherit Property
See me in a movie building a massive wood staircase:Low Tech Lab Movie

 
Eric Hanson
Steward and Man of Many Mushrooms
Posts: 5816
Location: Southern Illinois
1723
I like...
transportation cat dog fungi trees building writing rocket stoves woodworking
posted 5 years ago
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Mike,

I think that squashing would only be an issue when small.  Seems like after a few years they are very hardy.  I tend to think of blueberries as a Northern fruit.  I live in a more Southern climate (but I miss the Northern climate and I especially miss snow) that is not as conducive to blueberries, but still, there they stand.

Eric

Some places need to be wild

 
Mike Haasl
steward
Posts: 16019
Location: Northern WI (zone 4)
5120
8
I like...
hunting trees books food preservation solar woodworking
posted 5 years ago
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Yeah but...  This isn't normal snow.  This is 2 feet of snow on the roof, all sliding off at the same time.  Kablammo.  If you're under it when it goes, it would be a safety issue.  So whatever plant is down there needs to be ok with being rapidly flattened to the ground somewhere around March 1st.

I make a Maple Syrup instructional movie! Check it out HERE
SKIP books, get 'em while they're hot!!! Skills to Inherit Property
See me in a movie building a massive wood staircase:Low Tech Lab Movie

 
jordan barton
rocket scientist
Posts: 1909
Location: Coastal Salish Sea area, British Columbia
1083
2
I like...
books chicken food preservation pig bike solar wood heat rocket stoves homestead ungarbage
posted 5 years ago
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
hey mike

Here is a suggestion..

What if you found a long handled pole( like a extendable paint handle) and put a piece of a board on the end of it. Than once the snow starts to melt, you can start pulling the snow off of the roof. I suggest this because i have done this and do it every year. I mainly am doing it to the roofs which do not have a decent roof pitch. This might make the "impact" of the snow be more manageable.

Without a doubt heavy snow is very dangerous for anything underneath it.  

Maybe if the roof was cleaned off some of it would make it more bearable for these berry shrubs to grow?

It is a privilege to live, work and play in the traditional territory of the Salish People.
Now drop and give me 52... ~ Come Join the permies Shoecamp! ~ All about Permies, including Tutorials ---
Twenty bucks off the homesteading bundle for the next 72 hours!

 
Mike Haasl
steward
Posts: 16019
Location: Northern WI (zone 4)
5120
8
I like...
hunting trees books food preservation solar woodworking
posted 5 years ago
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
I do have a similar thing to a roof rake, called an "avalanche".  I actually do clean that roof off once in a while but I need to leave some snow on so that I can clear snow off the barn it's attached to.  If all the snow is gone it's too slippery to walk on.  I can't get all the barn snow though and when the barn snow sheds and hits the lean to, they both crash down onto the plants.  

Even if I could gently get the snow down onto them, I wouldn't want have plantings that require me to be that watchful.  All it takes is one snowfall followed by a warm late winter day to have it happen.  If I'm away for a few days, all is lost.

I could put one of those snow stopper things on the end of the lean to roof to keep it from sheeting off...  But then I'd worry that the snow load would get to be too much.  I already get worried that a crush of snow from the barn will destroy the lean to.

I make a Maple Syrup instructional movie! Check it out HERE
SKIP books, get 'em while they're hot!!! Skills to Inherit Property
See me in a movie building a massive wood staircase:Low Tech Lab Movie

 
Mike Haasl
steward
Posts: 16019
Location: Northern WI (zone 4)
5120
8
I like...
hunting trees books food preservation solar woodworking
posted 5 years ago
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
A lot of melting had happened by the time I took that picture.  In late February that pile was nearly up to the roof

I make a Maple Syrup instructional movie! Check it out HERE
SKIP books, get 'em while they're hot!!! Skills to Inherit Property
See me in a movie building a massive wood staircase:Low Tech Lab Movie

 
s. lowe
pollinator
Posts: 867
222
posted 5 years ago
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
What if you sprung for larger plants at the outset? I'm not positive a fully mature blueberry would handle the snow either but you could look at buying a plant that was mature enough to handle the snow load at the outset.

More expensive investment which also means more to lose if it fails but I think if you planted something after the snow fell off the roof by the next spring the crushing would probably just result in free pruning
 
Scott Stiller
gardener
Posts: 1268
Location: North Carolina zone 7
459
5
I like...
hugelkultur forest garden fungi foraging ungarbage
posted 5 years ago
  • Likes 3
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Sun chokes. They would really build the soil there. They can take a beating, snow or heavy rain. Four years ago I planted mine on a downhill slope headed down to my creek. Not only did they stop the erosion they actually made their own small terrace. Below them I now have elderberries, hops and grapes planted. They only downside I can think of is the wall of sunflowers you’ll have there late summer. They’re pretty but it gets hard to see through them.

Regards, Scott

 
Mike Haasl
steward
Posts: 16019
Location: Northern WI (zone 4)
5120
8
I like...
hunting trees books food preservation solar woodworking
posted 5 years ago
  • Likes 1
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Thanks Scott!  I have a few sunchokes planted in my food forest that I still have to taste test.  If they're yummy and agree with my tummy, they're definitely an option.  Many herbaceous perennials would work too since they come up from the ground each year.  I was just testing the waters to see if there are berry bushes that would survive.  It's sounding like there aren't any.

I make a Maple Syrup instructional movie! Check it out HERE
SKIP books, get 'em while they're hot!!! Skills to Inherit Property
See me in a movie building a massive wood staircase:Low Tech Lab Movie

 
Scott Stiller
gardener
Posts: 1268
Location: North Carolina zone 7
459
5
I like...
hugelkultur forest garden fungi foraging ungarbage
posted 5 years ago
  • Likes 2
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
I like them raw but not too many. Man, they make some kind of painful gas bubble! 😂

Regards, Scott

 
Scott Stiller
gardener
Posts: 1268
Location: North Carolina zone 7
459
5
I like...
hugelkultur forest garden fungi foraging ungarbage
posted 5 years ago
  • Likes 2
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
My choke terrace.
A1C6BD8B-8FD9-4D44-A8B3-81924304424F.jpeg
[Thumbnail for A1C6BD8B-8FD9-4D44-A8B3-81924304424F.jpeg]

Regards, Scott

 
Do or do not. There is no try. --Yoda ... this tiny ad thinks Yoda is a dumbass:
Learn Permaculture through a little hard work
https://wheaton-labs.com/bootcamp
reply
reply
    Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic
Boost this thread!
Similar Threads
More...