Victoria Jankowski

wayne fajkus wrote:I will be making one(or more) soon using a 5 gallon bucket.  It should be easy to fill with kitchen scraps.

We make sooo many scraps, as a WHolefood plant based Vegan, we process a rediculouse amount of food! We are actually backed up right now I have 2 3 gallon buckets and most of a storage tote full of scraps waiting to go places! I'm planning on reaping my tube, filling in a tire already growing spaghetti squash, and maybe setting up another tire or 2 for more squash that I rested seed from!. Also thinking to get a 5 gallon and 'spike' it with scraps to start a lemon tree in!

Victoria Jankowski wrote:

Daron Williams wrote:

Cindy Skillman wrote:The arrowroot sounds really interesting. We have a wet swampy area I’d love to fill, but can it possibly compete with the Canada Thistle infesting the area at present now? The CT constantly blows in from USFS land (badly managed, free-grazed by cattle that eat everything else but CT). I mow it when it starts to bud, but it’s a never ending thing. I’d love to see almost anything else growing there. And I’m thinking about getting a few ducks... but I could wait, or fence them out for a few years.

Hmm... I'm not sure but I think arrowroot would do better in higher water levels than Canada Thistle. So if you could do something to hold more water in that area perhaps that would help push the thistle out and get the arrowroot established. Another option might be to pick one area that is not too big and remove the thistle from that area and then plant arrowroot in that area. I would just see how the arrowroot did and if the thistle came back.

My guess is that there will be a point where it is too wet for the thistle to win out over the arrowroot. Arrowroot often grows as an emergent plant in water 6 inches or so deep. Basically the same areas that you might find cattails.

Good luck!

As I recall the cat tails are food stuff as well! The more the merrier For the time being is there any use for the CT, I know some thistles have medicinal uses, or maybe as a material for something, if its always there might as well see if you can use it, maybe at some point get them all going so you have the benefits of poly culture in the space?

I just looked it up https://vifarms.wordpress.com/2012/02/18/edible-and-medicinal-properties-of-invasive-weeds-canada-thistle/ of course I'd always double check the accuracy but just thought I would share

Daron Williams wrote:

Cindy Skillman wrote:The arrowroot sounds really interesting. We have a wet swampy area I’d love to fill, but can it possibly compete with the Canada Thistle infesting the area at present now? The CT constantly blows in from USFS land (badly managed, free-grazed by cattle that eat everything else but CT). I mow it when it starts to bud, but it’s a never ending thing. I’d love to see almost anything else growing there. And I’m thinking about getting a few ducks... but I could wait, or fence them out for a few years.

Hmm... I'm not sure but I think arrowroot would do better in higher water levels than Canada Thistle. So if you could do something to hold more water in that area perhaps that would help push the thistle out and get the arrowroot established. Another option might be to pick one area that is not too big and remove the thistle from that area and then plant arrowroot in that area. I would just see how the arrowroot did and if the thistle came back.

My guess is that there will be a point where it is too wet for the thistle to win out over the arrowroot. Arrowroot often grows as an emergent plant in water 6 inches or so deep. Basically the same areas that you might find cattails.

Good luck!

As I recall the cat tails are food stuff as well! The more the merrier For the time being is there any use for the CT, I know some thistles have medicinal uses, or maybe as a material for something, if its always there might as well see if you can use it, maybe at some point get them all going so you have the benefits of poly culture in the space?

Rasberries or blackberries, if they survive the first season they actually get thornier! the only trick is sinking a barrier to keep them where you want them and not everywhere else!

After seeing a similar item in several YouTube videos we made our selves a compost tube for my tomato box. We used 4 in ribbed plumbing pipe (much cheaper and easier to cut to size!) A vented drain cover on the bottom and a connecter and screw cap on the top. Cut the pipe to 6 inches short of the hight of the box (or the difference of the height minus the other parts, you need to be able to unscrew the cap, but keep all the other holes covered), drilled holes all over with a pinky sized bit, up and down and all around, attached the drain cover and the connecter/screw cap and stood it in the center of the box drain cover at the bottom (helps keep water from pooling in the bottom of the pipe and assures the worms can get in and out even if they get bigger than the drill holes) then buried it in. We fill the center with what ever kitchen scraps we have, and as long as we keep it mounded so the flies can get in we don't have an issue with that. My tomatoes are very very happy, had to add some bone dust eventually because there where no flowers but I think a system like this would be absolutely awesome for any leafy green etc... If my lettuce was doing nearly as well as those tomatoes I could feed salad to a small army for days in a 3 X 3 box!