Planting old logging road

We are moving a section of road through the woods on our property and are looking to replant the old road with something fun.  It’s maybe a quarter mile of compacted clay with some topsoil getting dumped on top, running through woods that are mostly oak and hardwoods.  We’re in VA, zone 6a.  

What would you put in?  I’m thinking to start with some big taproots like comfrey and dandelions to help break up the clay and add ground cover like clover and strawberries, perhaps.  Some bigger shrubs or smaller trees might be fun, too.  Blueberries and raspberries?  Huckleberries?  Serviceberry?  There isn’t much edible understory in there yet - lots of deer berries and stilt grass.  We’d love to slowly add more and more edibles.

From what I've read, the heavy compaction on old logging roads is quite a problem. I believe that, these days, heavy contruction and logging companies are required to break up the compaction as part of the reclamation process. It may be worth it to see if a local farmer or contractor has a deep till cultivator to stir things up. My 2c.

I'm not as familiar with Virginia, but there is an overlap of native species with where I live.

Some other good ones might be Eastern Red Cedar, Carolina Wild Rose (some people sell for outrageous prices, but you can get the seeds cheap), Blackhaw Viburnum & native onions, like Ramps (not sure if all the same species of onion exist in Virginia, but we also have Meadow Garlic & Nodding Onion), Wood Mint. And I think Virginia's native raspberries are a red variety, but not sure.

Some plants that might do better in harder soils are False Indigo Bush (Amorpha Fruictosa-- again, assuming range), native Morning Glories & New Jersey Tea, but only the Morning Glories would be edible.

Kelley,

Normally I am a big fan of no-till, but a road might be a different story.  Is there any chance you could get s tractor with a ripper (a box blade might do nicely) to at least make some furrows to plant in?  I would personally want to get something, almost anything that would be able to send roots into hard packed dirt (I don’t know if a road base counts as soil, at least not yet).

Comfrey might well grow, especially if you can dig even just a small hole to bury a piece of root.  But once established, comfrey is permanent.  Some grasses will grow in really tough, hard soil, as will some legumes.

BTW, is this old road deep in the woods or in the clear.  I am just wondering how much sunlight we are talking about.  Also, is this s gravel road, two compacted ruts of soil with greenery growing in the middle or is this road something else, perhaps between these two extremes.  It is useful to get an idea of what the road is physically composed of.

Interesting project,

Eric

Thanks for the replies!  
I’ll talk to our contractor and see if he can break up the old road a bit.  It’s not gravel, or at least you can’t find any gravel anymore. It’s compacted clay, quartz and veins of shale stone with a strip growing down the middle that’s mostly stiltgrass with a few other weeds.  Aside from the stone, it softens a bit in the rain.  One side was really badly eroded and we’re filling that with the larger logs and brush from the clearing process.  The old road starts with a small clearing on one side, but soon there are young trees all around. Most are maybe 4” diameter, the biggest are 10-12” with a couple larger.  So primarily shade, but there’s some sun peeking through.  I’ll see if I can post a picture later this afternoon.

This post is fun. We have a tractor "road" that we use to access our growing areas and building site(s). One day, when we're done with big projects, I want to replant the road and let the canopy reclose. We have footpaths through the woods to all our areas of activity, so one fine day there'll be no need for roads. Thanks for the nudge to imagine.

Michael Helmersson wrote:This post is fun. We have a tractor "road" that we use to access our growing areas and building site(s). One day, when we're done with big projects, I want to replant the road and let the canopy reclose. We have footpaths through the woods to all our areas of activity, so one fine day there'll be no need for roads. Thanks for the nudge to imagine.

Yeah, that’s what this is/was.  It was used for logging many years ago, horses, and accessing the hay fields.  The new road will work better for accessing our build site (former hay field).

I’d love to keep a smaller footpath on the old road to access edibles - whether they can grow on the clay, or if they need to be on the side.  The logs filling in the eroded areas should effectively be hugulkultur, so maybe that’s where we can plant things that need more nurturing.

Howdy,
I have a couple of old log skid roads on my mtn. property. One of the trees I am experimenting with is Fig. Figs like compacted soil. I don't have many areas for open garden space. would have to cut to many trees. I have been giving away my fig prunings and I have not had trouble getting most cuttings to root. I have figs producing, 2nd year in the ground. If this works it would be a "wild" fig orchard.

have you considered covering the area in 1 foot or so of wood chips? I noticed you said it was shady. Might over time break down into some nice soil. It would also bring the fungal process into play. leave it to some mushrooms to do the work.... Over time leaves will fall on it and it will eventually start to grow into the forest surrounding it.


here is an article
MycoRestoration of Abandoned Logging Roads

jordan barton wrote:have you considered covering the area in 1 foot or so of wood chips? I noticed you said it was shady. Might over time break down into some nice soil. It would also bring the fungal process into play. leave it to some mushrooms to do the work.... Over time leaves will fall on it and it will eventually start to grow into the forest surrounding it.

We have a giant pile of brush from the clearing process, but no chipper and haven’t been able to get any chip drops yet.  Our contractor wants to just burn it, but we might be able to find someone to chip it for us.  Does it matter if the chips are put down before vs after the new topsoil?

I work in the woods, and see a lot of old roads get naturally reclaimed pretty quickly.  I am in Oregon, though, so maybe all our rain helps with that.  Pioneer road-eating species I commonly see taking over gravel roads are manzanita, coyotebrush, clovers and grasses if it's a dry ridgetop road. Roads near creek bottoms get taken over by salmonberry and alder in short order. Some roads I drove 5 years ago I can hardly walk now. A road with little to no gravel should be even easier.  The BLM usually reclaims their old dirt roads by putting a tank trap at the front, then covering the road with oat straw. Sometimes this works really well and they have a grassy road the next season, sometimes it takes longer.

Kelly,

I am a big fan of the wood chip drop idea.  My gardens now consist exclusively of wood chips piled about 1’ deep.  I break down these chips with mushrooms.  

I realize that you don’t have a chipper, but could you possibly rent one for a day or two?  I used to rent a 15 hp gas 6” chipper, but switched to a 85hp Diesel 12” chipper.  The 12” model cost about twice as much as the 6” chipper but was well worth the cost—it was probably 4-5 times as effective/faster than the 6” chipper, chipped wood the 6” could never hope for and generally gave me less backache.

When I engage in a chipping project I usually cut and stack my branches and brush first so I can easily load right into the chipper.  Since you already have a brush pile, maybe the work is partially done already?

Either way, I doubt that you can cover a whole road in chips you made yourself in one or two days, but maybe you could find a section and start there and add to it over the years.

Regarding the layerings, I personally would go with chips on top, and the biology will quickly remediate the underlying ground surprisingly quickly.  For mushrooms I have had good luck with wine caps which are pretty fast growing/spreading mushrooms and thrive on neglect.  Blue oyster mushrooms are even more aggressive but I can’t comment directly on those though many have had success.

This is just one possibility.  If you like this idea, I can offer some more help if you are interested.

Good Luck,

Eric