I got sun chokes that I have been spreading on my property intentionally, the deer love them which at first I was annoyed until I realized “oh yeah, venison.” Burdock grows around the yard but I never tried to dig it up. I got the cultivated version of Solomon’s seal and I tried introducing cat tails in my vernal pool but they didn’t take.
I have made wine and mead in the past. Currently I make lacto sour kraut with carrots. I only use 1/2 tablespoon of salt per cup of water so it’s more sour and less salty. I tried fermenting purslane but it turned to mush. I also started making fermented soda out of random plants and fruit from my yard. Pine needles and mint leaves makes a mojito soda that I didn’t like but that’s just me. Made an autumn olive soda and crab apple soda (crab apple one was the best) working on sumac soda next. My wife makes awesome sourdough bread and discard foods.
A ‘broad fork’ makes short work of packed soil since that’s basically what’s is designed to do. It also doesn’t mess with soil health if used correctly.
If it’s any color other than the color of cut wood, then it’s dyed. Wood chips on their own do not get steamy when left in a pile. Also there’s the smell. Dyed mulch has a strong smell, almost sour. Plain wood chips just smell like wood.
Mike Haasl wrote:You can plant in a frost pocket, but if you have frost sensitive plants, and it gets to frosting temps, they're screwed. I bet lettuce would love growing down there in a hot dry climate.
Yeah but I live in New England. Maybe I can use large rocks around the base (thermal mass) to mitigate frost, on the sunny side anyway.
You could even knock all the tall stuff over with a board tied to a rope. You hold the rope and just press everything down with your foot on the board and shuffle forward. It’s fast and covers a wide area all at once. It will accomplish the same thing if you chop and drop with less work.
