Tis the season to restore nature with free plants

[@sarahmihuc3993]

It's worth looking into black locust as an invasive in Ontario a bit more. It's not native here, but is to the US. The government says it's invasive and shouldn't be propagated. Because of this I'm leaving it out of my garden, although it does have some nice benefits.

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

Yes, indeed, it's on many lists. I'm actually good friends with a lot of conservationists and this is one of "hot topics" in that circle. Half believe that ANY nitrogen fixer is ONLY invasive for the exact reason that we've destroyed soils. For example, when you dig a soil, you trigger the germination of all the pioneer plants (typically called weeds). These plants specific ecological function is to rebuild soil organic matter and carbon. So there's a very good REASON why black locust, autumn olive, and all those plants tend to be problematic around highways. We dug up the soil, destroyed the soil food web in that soil, and not nitrogen fixers thrive. They thrive because they outcompete other plants in a destroyed soil ecosystem. They rebuilt the soil, and actually compete terribly in conditions of shade and fertile soil. So they do their job, heal the soil, then once the ecological transition goes beyond their niche (i.e. once they did their job), they simply cede away and die. They give way to the maples and oaks of the plant kingdom. (See my soil microbiology guide for more details). The other half of conservationists just look at what's going on, with these plants being problematic now, and don't share the same context and understanding of ecological transition, and slap every single nitrogen fixer onto invasive lists. One other really important thing about N-fixers is that they almost always tend to have really thin leaves. So even though they can grow and spread really well (until they've done their job, as the scab healing the wound), they don't tend to "displace" native plants, as the native plants can grow under their dappled sunlight canopies. Typically if native plants struggle to grow in areas where N-fixers are thriving, that's more to do with soil conditions (which is what the N-fixers are healing), than shade and out-competing. It's for this reason that any conservationist worth their salt doesn't consider N-fixing plants invasive. Again, this is all stuff that I've learned FROM conservationists. From the best of them. The most knowledgable of them. And all of them are completely against this tree being on invasive lists. But at the end of the day, it just depends on who you are talking to.

[@sparkywatts3072]

I think re-wilding our lands might be our best hope of saving this planet for human habitation. This can happen if we get enough people like you to join the effort. Thanks Keith.

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

❤️

[@annburge291]

Exactly. If you are a Walter Jehne supporter, covering the soil with dense vegetation will fix the water cycle and this in turn will have more effect on climate change than any other consideration. The question becomes how do we approach this problem with the man made deserts and where rain has ceased to fall because of lack of vegetation.

[@Growinginontario]

The bark, seeds, and leaves of black locust trees contain poisonous compounds called toxalbumins. They are toxic to both livestock and humans and have been reported to cause symptoms from gastrointestinal distress to nervous system disorders. I collected honey locust seeds instead which is very similar to black locust. The Kentucky coffee tree also has pods that look like giant pea’s which seeds can be collected and germinated the same way. I scarified the seeds instead of using boiling water. I used pliers to hold the seed and sandpaper to scuff the shell of the seed. I had 100% germination rate with this technique.

[@lrrerh8090]

I’ve been planting some asparagus seeds along some edges that are pretty neglected areas…. Only 4 more years until I can start picking my bounty. Patience is rewarding

[@laurahalonen6781]

This is so inspirational! Because of this I see a really ugly, new road connection close to my house in a new light. The connection was built over an old forest and now the area is looping roads. The roads curv around big areas of turned dirt. Well the dirt grows a few invasive plants and othervise looks bare and pretty sad. Or does it look like an opportunity to grow? Yes it is starting to do so. I already have many tree saplings growing, it is dark at nights and it has not froze yet. Hmm, something interesting might happen...

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

I planted out a similar area about 8 years ago, and it got completely demolished when the build progressed. It sat around unused for about 15 years (I used 8 of them). Overall, I would still say it was well worth it, even though it was very hard to bike by it and see it completely demolished. I still know that many of the herbaceous layer plants fed nature for almost a decade, and was no doubt spread by nature also into surrounding areas. Just fully understand that when you go try to plant something like that, it's highly likely that one day in the future you will have a very sad day coming.

[@laurahalonen6781]

@@CanadianPermacultureLegacy thank you for this information. I was thinking this is a "gamble", but worth it anyway. (I think the road was so expencive that the city might not have the money to do anything but to plant 5 oaks in the area. It is like 5 dots in A4 paper ark. But I like to see the silver lining, so I appreciate the 5 oaks!) I was thinking this "project" last night and the plants I think might suit well would be some native dryland flowers. I have the seeds for them and a couple of trees - just for fun!)

[@growinginportland]

I’m fascinated by this gorilla planting. So many of my neighbors in Portland all grow food they have fruit trees on their property. They also have gardens. I’m starting to save seeds for next year, which is a really good thing because it will save me a lot of money in the future . Hope you have a great day. Thx for posting.

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

❤️

[@growinginportland]

@@CanadianPermacultureLegacy I forgot to mention that all my neighbors around me grow food and I was able to trade food over the summer and get peaches and blackberries for my tomatoes which was really cool.

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

That kind of thing also makes very tight knit communities. This tight community cohesion is the ultimate prep as well. I always get a kick out of the pepper types that want to build walls and guns and isolate. No amount of that is going to keep you safe in hard times. What might actually work however is a tight community.

[@leep4655]

❤❤❤

[@growinginportland]

@@CanadianPermacultureLegacy this is true. Just get to know your neighbors and say hi to them. My other neighbor let me pick her plum tree. So I made her plum jam as a thank you.

[@modernpioneer1997]

Thanks for your opinion. Here in southern Minnesota many cities are opting to let us rewild our yards or land without threat of citations. Seeing I’m not the only saving seeds on nature walks gives me more peace. Keep this information coming. God bless you and family.

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

❤️ great work

[@branchingoutpermaculturewi4766]

i love this video and am a big fan of spreading nuts and seeds and let nature take over. this is the solution to global warming. we need more trees. cheers mate

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

Well said!

[@laurellloyd3009]

Love this. Thank you!

[@annburge291]

Loved this video... Coming from an Australian point of view, where bushfires are a constant threat, I really disagree with connecting forest islands. I'll even go as far as to say, that having large stretches of bushland in state forests is mismanagement. Years ago, I was really taken back overhearing a First Nations elder say 'Look at White Fella not caring for land. Look at all those trees uncared for... ' I totally get it now. If Australian bush is in water drop shape going up the hills, with grass lands between, the kangaroos have food, they can be directed and caught using grass burn, and more importantly, if a bush fire starts with a lightning strike, it can be more easily controlled. A few years ago most of the east coast went up in flames because most of this area is protected by State Reserves with what was dense eucalyptus forest. Millions of native animals and livestock died because there was no escape. So I will rephrase your comment 'If there are forest islands, there needs to be free animal access between them with no fences, roads and cultivated fields.'

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

That's perfect and a great point. It's actually a side benefit of power transmission lines. the utility clears access zones, and these cut down corridors actually act as incidental fire breaks. However at the same time, wildlife is still able to cross them to access the forest on the other side.

[@trumpetingangel]

In northeast North America, efforts are being made to keep areas connected that are wildlife pathways. Here's hoping we continue to have plenty of rain and low danger of wildfire. 🤞

[@modee-b9s]

Excellent video - Thanks!

[@denarisnoctem4562]

I love your videos! That is the first time I have ever seen mature asparagus.

[@tammy5666]

Thanks! Happy Canadian Thanksgiving 🦃

[@GimmeADream]

I have moved small spruce trees since Hurricane Foona hit and knocked down, pulled up or broke off thousands of old spruce in windrows on this property a year ago. I collect oak trees also, lol. I have a big black walnut in the front of the house, a beautiful tree but as far as I know it hasn't gone to seed. I haven't seen any nuts or nut shells from squirrels.

[@karab.8621]

Love this idea. May have to go up towards our mountains this weekend and see what I can find.

[@comitatocentrale2022]

Here in Italy black locust behaves as an invasive. I’ve seen a patch of land alongside a railroad with black locust being clear cut and growing back stronger than ever the year after, truly amazing, and makes me wonder about the possible use of black locust as a wood/biochar plant. A lot of the honey here sold is Acacia’s honey which most people here don’t realise is black locust, so it’s not all black or white.

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

It's not surprising that it's invasive in areas of depleted destroyed soils, since that's nitrogen fixer main niche. However, they do improve soils, and transition the soils towards healthy soils, in which other plants tend to outcompete the nitrogen fixers. This is my main contention with invasive lists and nitrogen fixers on those lists. Nitrogen fixers are the scabs on a wound, healing it. Yes, the wound scabs aggressively, but its the scab that allows the healing.

[@annburge291]

Makes excellent firewood. There is a tendency to call anything that is a hard worker, that grows easily, that has prickles, isn't edible by humans and livestock an 'invasive species'. Australian immigrants saw eucalyptus trees and wattle growing in their fields as 'invasive', and Mexicans in my area see mezquites and gatuño as absolute pests but another nitrogen fixer such as Palo Verde from the south and black locust from the north as beautiful landscape trees. We don't seem to value things when there are a lot of them. The way to kill a nitrogen fixer is to cut them down to the ground, apply compost, cover with cardboard and woodchips made from the cut down tree branches.

[@felixvonnotzing6095]

One of my favourite tree species. Fuck invasive speciesism!

[@Ianjames-cy4wn]

If the plants, animals and ourselves are going to have a future on this planet beyond becoming extinct it will be up to each of us. No government, corporation or saviour will stop our decline. Read 'When we read The Green Jade Book by Roman Yutso' for a look at how we could change.

[@jamesalanstephensmith7930]

Great ideas!

[@Crina-LudmilaCristeaAuthor]

Nice!🤗

[@SeekingBeautifulDesign]

Several thoughts on a similar experience: 1. I take pictures with geotags of my neighborhood goodies. An app like Theodolite also allows you to line up the picture with the compass (as well as gps) so you have every single possible landmark. Then, all picture apps will display a map of where you took your photos...can tag them with plant names, or even dates to check...the map even lets you plan an efficient route especially for cycling. All this exists on budget phones. 2. You mentioned not being concerned about asparagus next to the road, but given your previous videos on pesticides and watersheds, how to you resolve the tension of ditches next to farmer's fields and their potential to have the highest concentration of pesticide runoff? I look at the lovely asparagus and pass it by...perhaps spreading some seeds to what seem to be safer areas for me. 3. I too transplant the trees with no hope and some with hope. Do you trim back your black locust foliage given that you can seldom get much of the locust root system? 4. What's your opinion on black locust root allelopathy. That of black walnuts is established, but black locust seems to be unclear. 5. If using a car, I often park it so that errant drivers will hit it first rather than me while working at roadside. Doesn't happen often, but road workers are often killed by drivers...they even have signs in construction zones.

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

For the pesticides and herbicides, they tend to spray after asparagus foraging season is over. For black locust roots, I have never seen any source that states that.

[@SeekingBeautifulDesign]

@@CanadianPermacultureLegacy 1. Locust:quite a few studies at least. Here's the first that popped up: Allelopathic potential of Robinia pseudo-acacia L Habib Nasir et al. J Chem Ecol. 2005 Sep 2. Pesticides: is there a risk of a soil reservoir of cides building up around the asparagus. I'm sure not all cides fully decompose in a season, but we are talking about time and soil microbial action and asparagus' own propensity to incorporate toxic substances.

[@FioBrio]

black locust tree doesn't like transplanting, but I tried with a about 1 year old very small tree, it died back, but while it was in the ground i removed all leaves and the top of the tree and it resprouted on the small leftover stem and it's alive now (i'm from Croatia and it's invasive here but it is usefull as anti-erosion tree and as honey tree)

[@kiverone]

Please let people know that black locust is highly invasive in Europe and is doing a lot of damage. A lot of efforts are done to try to content it but is very difficult as spreads very easy and grows to fast. In the forest behind my house I keep trying to get ried of them and is just no possible as from one year to next year you get plants over 1 m high. Also I can tell you you dont need to leave them in hot water. They will germinate very easily that same year without doing anything.

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

I did, in both the video itself (twice) and the description. Thanks for the comment.

[@julie-annepineau4022]

A couple of my asparagus roots are female and have a lot of seed this year. I will be spreading those seeds around the property this fall to see where they will flourish. I have been growing honey locust from seed and found they require scarification to get thru the casing. Have you had that issue?

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

I haven't done honey locust before, but you could try the same idea with the black locust. You either need to scrap it, or (for black locust at least) hot water bath such as in this video. I'm not sure if that would work for honey locust, but I suspect it would.

[@sqeekable]

How do feel about foraging so close to road traffic? Quality of food affected by car exhaust?

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

These country roads have very lottle traffic, so I'm not worried about it. I wouldn't harvest asparagus next to a busy road. Concerns are exhaust fumes depositing down on the food (as you mentioned) and also oils from the road carried into the nearby soils during a rain (if the plant is quite close to the road). For a busy road, if the plant is 50 feet or so away from the road, I think it would be okay., but it really depends, and I think you just have to make a gut call.

[@Big-Government-Is-The-Problem]

question sir, so i dont have great soil so i bought 20 yards of compost made of aged woodchips and 20 yards of woodchips (bad ratios ik, but 20 yards was a full dumptruck which let me get wholesale pricing), and im wanting to start a food forest, and annual garden and have miniclover as a ground cover. so i dont think miniclover will grow well on top of woodchips, so should i do cardboard, a few inches of compost and a foot or so of woodchips and then like a half inch of compost on top for the clover to grow in, then ofc just dig a hole and pull back the chips where im wanting to plant strawberries, some fruit trees and bushes this fall? i could also just wait until next spring to plant any edibles, but id like to get started now. or is the miniclover just a bad idea and should i try to keep the top layer free of any growth other than the edibles, but that seems like a lot of work and a losing battle. sorry for the long question, but id really appreciate any help, and keep up with the good work, your videos are great =)

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

Both options are fine. You are right that mini clover likely won't do well in that scenario. The best thing I've done is to sow a plant like that with very thin layer of mulch (that it pushes up through), ideally straw or shredded leaves, something lighter. Then in the winter when it's dormant, add an inch of mulch everywhere. The roots are all that need to survive over the winter. Then the next winter, another inch, and the next winter another inch. That way, the plant can always push up through the mulch each spring, but you are building soil at the same time with the mulch.

[@nicoledoucet6125]

I have picked asparagus for years but this year I got poison ivy bad. You mentioned it in your video, is it associated to grow next to it usually?

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

Nothing between the two plants, no, they just tend to grow in the same climates and occupy the same niches.

[@trumpetingangel]

I saw a wonderful video about washing after exposure to poison ivy. I wish I could link it here. He recommended a grease-cutting detergent, such as Dawn, and an abrasive washcloth. He demonstrated with axle grease and just the abrasive cloth took it almost all off! Washing, no matter how many times or what type of soap or detergent, was pitiful next to the abrasive scrubbing! A loofah, or a synthetic loofa, or a really rough washcloth will do the trick. I have poison ivy all over my property and get it several times each season - this year 4 or 5 times! Now I know how to prevent it.

[@therealkrystalvintage]

genius 🍑