Renee Banks

I have one patch of very wet soil and the vietnamese mint thrives in it, it can be used as a substitute for fresh coriander in cooking. When you go to a vietnamese restaurant and order a bowl of pho they give you a bunch of it and you can pick the leaves off and pop it in your tasty noodle soup.

rhubarb makes a nice ketchup.

Im keen to try pumpkin leaves this summer when i grow them, this sounds like a nice recipe https://www.sbs.com.au/food/recipes/pumpkin-leaves

You could try creeping thyme

carbon sequestering grass:

I saw an article in Organic Monthly (I think??) about a year ago, and I wish I'd saved it.  It was about a kind of grass that grows extremely deep roots and sequesters carbon as well as anything on the planet.  I really wish I knew what that grass was.  I think it would be an interesting experiment to grow a patch of it, and see how it does here.  (I think it was a prairie grass of some sort.)  Does anyone remember that?


I didnt read the article you speak of but remember reading how well coastal sea grass sequesters carbon theres an article here saying they sequester more than forests
[url=http://http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2012/05/22/3508277.htm]Seagrass article[/url http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2012/05/22/3508277.htm

David Livingston wrote:actually the only thing I know that can outcompete brambles is ........a goat

Lol I wish I could bring a goat into my backyard, it would be in heaven!

Genevieve Higgs wrote:Last spring I went all around my rental's yard pruning black berries off at the ground.  I repeated once or twice a month.  At the start I was just thinking about reducing the weight of blackberry vines crushing down on the more decorative bushes.  Now most vines are gone, or come in all soft and tender.  It used to be hard work, this year it seems very minimal, it might be possible to eliminate it if I spent another few years doing it.  With selective pruning of only black berry vines all the other bushes seem to have done better.  It even turns out there was ivy and wisteria under the black berries!

One thing I regret is that I planted two mint between my raised beds and the bramble groves.  Now there are a few black berry tendrils coming up in the beds and a lot of mint.  At least it works in smoothies and mojitos and doesn't leave alergic scratches all over my hands.

Its good to know that pruning to the ground works in reducing their vigour.  Some of the blackberry roots are in such awkward spots (under a concrete path, and on the other side of the fence that I cant rip them out completely.

Alder Burns wrote:I would consider some kind of rank, fast, climbing vine that could run up and over the blackberry thicket and shade and smother it.  A vigorous variety of winter squash, running cowpeas, grapes, velvet beans or some other annual legume might be worth trying.  Replant the annuals every year around the edges, densely, and try to provide them with a competitive advantage in moisture and fertility.  The ultimate player, of course, would be kudzu, but that might be replacing one problem with a worse one!

I like the idea of legumes.  Im thinking I will try oregano to cover the bulk of it and also an annual legume near the fence line, ill have to try a few and see which one thrives in that spot.  I like the idea of things I can use in the  kitchen.  I may also trial a globe artichoke plant there as well as I know they grow like weeds with zero maintenance in my backyard but Im not sure how theyll do in part shade.

If all else fails i guess i could put canna lillies there, they also thrive in my yard with zero maintenance but I already have them in a patch near the back and dont really want more.  But theyd be better than the blackberries which are unfortunately thriving right near my clothesline and things can get caught on windy days...

Daron Williams wrote:Nootka rose can beat out blackberries and is native to the Pacific Northwest.

Theyre a pretty plant, not sure if I can find them here in Australia but good to know, thanks.

Oregano, thats one id like to try, thanks.