sue bee

as far as having to use chain link fence, you could always grow useful vines, such as grapes or whatever you desire to cover the chain link. i think that would look nice and serve a purpose at the same time. as far as your shade goes, use those as your canopy. maybe not all, but you could also grow your shade loving plants in that area. maybe start some shrooms?  fungi is good.....

Bill Erickson wrote:JR,
It looks like that is foxtail barley or horbeum jerbatum - and its best permaculture use seems to be as a way to pull salts out of the soil.Basically let it grow, scythe it or weed whack it down and transport off your property. Seems it is fairly aggressive in the way it holds on. It is also one of the nastier ones for critters and folks. I have pulled many of those stinking things out of my socks and skin as a kid. Used my google-fu to look it up and Wikipedia had some fairly comprehensive information. Linky Thing Here

Most likely the simplest way to get rid of it is to sheet mulch or hot compost.

Hope that helps, and others have suggestions for you as well.

have a question.... do you think foxtail barley would be a good thing for erosion control on a creekbank. the creek is not far from house , but bank is really eroding in places. would it interfere greatly with wildlife that uses bank as nests etc... meaning ducks, birds. dont really want racoons around. could kill my chickens. so i guess more than one question. also we have long grasses growing at top of creek. would it interfere and come up and take over my yard. yes we are that close....

lol i believe i may have same issue as my beds are new also. BUT... i think ill find plants mice dont like, as i would rather deal with meces than snakes. i wouldnt even go near if snakes are around. YIKES!!! a black snake in the bed. oh good Lord...no way. ill find a way. actually i believe they bedded down for winter, as bed has been there for latter part of summer and i saw no traces. we will see. may just like their new home. but my chicks will like them too. along with snakes.

i moved out to my property last year. Nice amount of land. A creek, wildlife, trees. The whole lot..... I built 2 hugel beds and if all works out, may do more. But am concentrating more on a food forest scenario. I went farther into country and brought 2 mullein to grow. Did very well this year, and am utilizing everything possible with it. Left base plant to grow. This past summer neighbor across creek came over and asked if i was going to "get rid of my dandelions overtaking land" ummmm thats a big fat NO!! He wasnt happy, so i say stay on your side of creek, as im on a roll over here......sorry. I wasnt nasty, but firm in my answer that im letting nature do her thing so to speak. Im going to try to keep as much native as possible, with additions of lots medicinals, fruit trees, which i planted last yr., and comfrey. Chickens will help out with keeping weeds down, and ill be picking dandys, so.... Anyway,i wish people would just quit worrying about well manicured yards, and get back to beauty of nature.

I also live right next to a creek, which floods with spring thaws and heavy rainfall. Ive planted roots of hairy vetch and some clovers, and peas. I found a site that sells willow BUSHES, not trees. I dont think willow trees would be feasable as home is too close. Last year brought some very heavy erosion i believe due to vortex, as we actually had ice jams. Couls lay in bed and hear crackle of ice.
Very daunting i must say.... Anyway, would willow bushes be a decent feasable enough? I have 150 feet of creekbank to protect from erosion. I am thinking about 40 bushes. Do you have any thoughts on this as i am not sure about thr root systems with these. I dont want to over/underplant. Desperation may lead me to unnecessary planting.

i started 2 hugelkultur beds this year and am letting them get i guess you could say established to plant in next year. im sure root systems play a fairly big part of its success. ill find out. also im going to plant a vast array of medicinal herbs and forage plants all over my property. knowing that roots are a huge part of herb gardens/permaculture im sure this book would be quite helpful. thank you for your input on this forum. not a subject that i really thought much about until this year. would love to get your book, as im sure it would be a big help. thanks again.

extremely nice of you to think of others in this way. it may just work for some of us, and as you said, input from others 9 out of 10 times will get some type of reponse i would think. can pretty much always learn a bit of something each time on this site. i know i do. again, thank you.

that is what i meant by storm. im not afraid in any way to carry on with my endeavors to try to improve life itself. and will continue as much as possible for me. ive turned people on, quite a few i might add... to the ' piles of dirt in my back yard", aka hugelkultur. hope i sparked enough interest to some to attempt something. next year they will see results of " my storm", and if i didnt spark interest earlier maybe final results will. as for gov't, i just hope they see that it truly is.... a win win.... for ALL OF US. i truly appreciate your reply. well wishes to you. sue b

hi looby and welcome. i was wondering if you could tell us whether you think there is enough of a movement of permies to really make a difference with our earth, in other words...enough of a 2nd chance to try to reverse some of the damage we have caused. and also, if you can say.... do you think that govts will try to hinder/ban this type of practice. seems they want total control of our food production. or at least keep our gardening to a minimum. i thank you, sue b

looby, i am wondering if you think the permie storm is going to be ENOUGH of a cause to give this world we live a 2nd chance, and also, do you think governments will try to ban/hinder this movement in any way? thank you, sue b