Planting for foraging - daft idea?

[veggiechicken]

Dunno really. Needs to be cheap, quick and easy. Its a big area (about 20 x 10) so a couple of plants dotted here and there would make no difference at all.

[Jay-ell]

3 cornered leek? Plant one and it'll have that area covered in no time.

Cheap because I know you already have it

[veggiechicken]

No way am I planting that anywhere else
I'm thinking, maybe, spinach, as I have lots of seeds and I don't like it much!! Gertrud Franck uses it for intercropping/paths and chops it down as mulch. In fact, the more I think about it, the more I like the idea.

There's a pdf of Gertrud's books at http://soilandhealth.org/wp-content/...nck/franck.pdf

[Jay-ell]

Chamomile? It is so well known every where, that it is but lost time and labour to describe it

[Snadger]

Chamomile? It is so well known every where, that it is but lost time and labour to describe it

I planted loads of chamomile plants between paths but only have about 50% now. It didn't like being covered by leaves in autumn and died off!

[veggiechicken]

Have to admit, I'm not a fan of chamomile - funny smell - and it take ages to spread. I tried growing a chamomile lawn once.

I think I'm going for spinach and oriental mustards as they self seed easily.

[Jimmy]

Veg should be grown in regimented straight rows.
Flowers should be relegated to the compost heap.
Well that's my idea !
Jimmy

[BUFFS]

It sounds like guerrilla gardening on your own patch to me!

or maybe just aping your betters..

[rary]

What would make a good ground cover with rhubarb? I have about 20 plants, most are quite small and they're well spaced out ready for when they're BIG. I need to walk amongst them to pick the rhubarb.
Any ideas welcome - even Jay-ell's.

Would you consider Nasturtium for ground cover?

[ESBkevin]

There is a school of thought that even grass/weeds under fruit trees robs them of some nutrients. Commercial growers will mulch or cultivate the space to reduce competition for the fruit trees. Now you are not growing fruit commercially and provided you accept there might be a small loss of production in exchange for the delight of a courgette I see now problem. I doubt there is likely to be a noticable change of fruit output but plenty of mulch would be a good idea for the benefit of both plants.

[Jay-ell]

So often I've read article/seen videos about the evil of weeds robbing nutrients and stealing water from the crops. This is often followed by the section on companion planting or ground cover in the space you've just freed up from those resource guzzling weeds to act as a living mulch keeping weeds out and stopping the moisture in the soil from evaporating.

Can't figure out why these ground cover crops don't use up resources though.

[veggiechicken]

I've never worried about keeping the grass/weeds away from fruit trees from a productivity point of view and the only weeds I remove are the spreading or seeding ones - buttercups, dandelion heads, dock, hogweed and nettles when they're going to sting me.
I'd like to replace the weeds with something edible (yes, I know I can eat dandelions and nettles!) and since I have lots of courgettes and bean seeds that will never be sown I'll probably use them. Nasturtiums too, thank you rary.

[Snadger]

The best, and biggest onions I ever grew were under a thick blanket of chickweed!

[rary]

I'd like to replace the weeds with something edible (yes, I know I can eat dandelions and nettles!) and since I have lots of courgettes and bean seeds that will never be sown I'll probably use them. Nasturtiums too, thank you rary.

You are welcome, anything to help a lady

[veggiechicken]

OK, rary, I'll buy you a drink in the GR.