Planting food in the ditch at the road...

Dexter · #1 10/17/10, 10:30 PM

Does anybody else make use of their actual ditches? Around here there is generally enough moisture to keep crops anything from wilting- ideal!!
My ditch is getting scraped clean of weeds by highways this week (happens every 5 years or so) and I've decided to stick in there any perennial veggies I can think of. Jerusalem artichokes will likely.be the main "crop" as they require no love and are deep enough to keep from being scraped by future ditchdiggers. They make great privacy hedges and spread fairly quick.

It's unlikely I'd ever harvest these, but I like the idea of free food growing wild, particularly crops like JA's which most others think are weeds/scrub.

Any other ideas?? Or do you do anything like that?

rambler · #2 10/17/10, 10:53 PM

The road ditches are an easement of the township.county/state, and are there to carry water off the roadbed, and moreso to provide a safe, clear zone for drivers to see wildlife and not hit anything if they go off the road.

Planting a crop (other than cutting it for hay) in the road ditch is illegal in most places, and should be all over. It's not really your property any more, tho likely you are assessed taxes on it.

Just my opinion, depends on your location if anyone there cares I guess.

--->Paul

Dexter · #3 10/17/10, 11:19 PM

Of course your not supposed to, I hear you there.
You are also not supposed to use sawdust toilets here, live in motorhomes, burnpiles, etc etc.
Most of the neighbors dump yardwaste in theirs (which I agree deserves a penalty)
Yet a little asparagus in the ditch makes me happy...

HilltopDaisy · #4 10/17/10, 11:41 PM

I might be concerned about the water running over dead wildlife (in the ditch).

When I was a wee little child, I'd drink from the ditch, and my father was horrified. Now I understand why!!

Jackie · #5 10/17/10, 11:52 PM

Ummm stupid question but if you are in BC don't they salt the roads there?? I know they do here. Wouldn;t the ditches be full of salt? What about gross stuff that people toss out their cars? Surely you don't actually NEED that piece of dirt.

I can't really see anything wrong with it other than taking into consideration the growing conditions. The weeds would be higher than your crops provided you are not growing corn. Just remember though, that someone could come tell you NO!

Paquebot · #6 10/18/10, 01:50 AM

In due time, it may come to that. Years ago, I remember urban vegetable gardens grown in railroad right-of-ways. Didn't knew the precedent until I saw miles after miles of about 10' wide gardens along European railroads, especially in the Netherlands. We may be but a few generations away from programs to utilize such land.

I'm not certain of how it is in all states and provinces but rural farm measurements are from the center of the road here. If one owns a section surrounded by roads, he pays taxes on 640 acres but 25-30 feet all around are shared with the township or county. I've seen some farmers take it almost to the blacktop on flat ground or right to the edge of a ditch on rolling ground. Two more rows of corn, almost a mile long, goes a long way in filling a wagon.

For those who worry about what may be dumped, those railroad gardens in Europe had a great "trickle down" effect. I often wondered why there was a sign in the train car's loo which said: "Please do not flush in station." I did just to see why. I was looking down at the railroad bed!

Martin

geo in mi · #7 10/18/10, 07:08 AM

Our county has a big John Deere with rotary mowers mounted on long, hydraulic swing arms to raise, lower, and extend them down into the ditch areas. The driver doesn't even like common daylilies....... I've got to put a post out this spring to make him raise the mowers so he won't mow down my holly bushes and choke berries that I planted.
Due to a fluke in the 1932 Michigan law, I own all the property under the road(no easement)--there wasn't an official township road here, it just sort of grew as the years since then went by. I do "informally" cede them a four foot clearway on each side, though......My plantings are more than four feet back.......

In some heavy ag areas, a ditch may be carrying pesticides and herbicides at certain times of the year. Don't know if JA would absorb any or not. And, even though leaded gas and asbestos brake linings are now banned, I don't think anyone did any remediation to the roadside areas that collected that kind of hazardous waste left behind by the traffic. So I hope we don't get desperate enough to grow people or animal food in those so-called 'unused' areas.....turnip, anyone????

geo

Dexter · #8 10/18/10, 08:59 AM

I have found JA's and asparagus do fine with both road salt and infrequent mowings.
Not sure if the JA's produce tubers with mownings(and very curious if they do as they are also out in my pasture) but I'm sure if the mowing ever stopped they would surely be tasty.

rambler · #9 10/18/10, 09:01 AM

'Here' between the winter road salt, the deep hard banks of snow that fill the ditch, the yearly maintenence (spraying or mowing by the vounty) and the typical water runoff during heavy rains....

It's all to do to get a good crop of hay off the road ditches. Nothing from the garden would survive!

I'm on a county road. Some township roads, the farmers encroach on prtetty bad, getting thier corn & soybeans darn close to the roadbed. Whatever we can get away with I guess.

Most right of ways 'here' are 50 to 150 feet on each side of the road centerline, and are fairly well maintained.

--->Paul

NickieL · #10 10/18/10, 09:05 AM

How busy is this road? If i were you I would consider that there could be all kinds of pollutants in that run off water--- i would avoid eatting anything out of roadside ditch water unless it is a very seldom used road.

rambler · #11 10/18/10, 09:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dexter

I have found JA's and asparagus do fine with both road salt and infrequent mowings.
Not sure if the JA's produce tubers with mownings(and very curious if they do as they are also out in my pasture) but I'm sure if the mowing ever stopped they would surely be tasty.

Just a note - I love aspargus, and it is a well behaved plant. Wouldn't bother me.

JA - my only experience with it is as a miserable, hard to control weed. If I saw any growing in a road ditch, I'd mow it or spray it & do what I could to kill it off so it doesn't spread. I'd want the county or township to control it on their easements as well, and would discuss that with the local commisioners....

Perhaps you have a less invasive garden type? I donno. Don't know anything about that plant, other than it is a noxious weed in many locations. Look up 'jerusalem artichoke weed' in a search engine, and you will see the problems it causes for many....

Be thinking of your neighbors, if you choose to plant things in the road ditch.

Just a thought.

--->Paul

Horseyrider · #12 10/18/10, 09:25 AM

There's no way whatsoever I'd knowingly eat anything that's been grown next to much traffic. The exhaust from vehicles, especially diesel, is beyond gross.

Would wildflowers be a good compromise?

ronbre · #13 10/18/10, 10:23 AM

I do plant the right of way (40 feet from the center of the road out to your property) ..but I plant it with wildflowers not food plants, they'll still draw in your pollinators and feed and shelter the wildlife, but you won't have to worry about the road salts and oils that they absorb getting into your food. some road fluids are poison to people, deadly poison, and to animals too, and could get spilled onto food crops by the road..I advise against it.

edcopp · #14 10/18/10, 11:29 AM

A lot of wild flowers are edible and tasty.

sammyd · #15 10/18/10, 11:34 AM

we rake up the stuff left after the ditch is mowed for bedding....don't think I'd do any more than that....

texican · #16 10/18/10, 11:38 AM

If you plant in the 'public' ditches (where the public drives up and down), be aware that a lot of jurisdictions spray herbicides in them regularly to keep woody growth down, there's a worry (least for me) about past lead depositions, and most importantly, humans, imho, are worse than any coon, possum, deer, or other crop raiding varmint. Get a good stand of X growing in your ditch, and the day before you think it's getting just ripe, a yahoo stops and cleans out the free bounty. Or, the county/state comes along and sprays... or bush hogs the mess down.

Unless I didn't have any dirt elsewhere, I wouldn't do it. Heck, even if I didn't have any dirt at all, I'd rather guerrilla garden on absentee land.

arabian knight · #17 10/18/10, 01:18 PM

For sure.
And all sorts of things get thrown into the ditches from traffic.
Oil drops from every vehicle, oh it maybe only one small drop, but multiply that by the amount of cars and trucks, and then it rains and ALL that "stuff" is splashed into the road ditches, even drops of antifreeze. Gets nobody ever thinks about such things as that. But hat is what goes into the road ditches and maybe even worse then that in this day in age.
A very bad idea. I don't even walk across the road and pick up the long grasses that the country mowers have just mowed.
All sorts of "stuff is in and on the road ditches. Saying nothing about the salt that washes off, the rocks that get thrown, the Dust that gets on everything. No way would I have any food planted even if a person could~!
Which when the mowers come by and mow the long grasses and weeds how in the world can one even think of keeping a food product planted even if a person could.

Jolly · #18 10/18/10, 09:51 PM

Ditches?

Common gardening practice in India...

Dexter · #19 10/18/10, 10:14 PM

They don't use herbicides here. I'm suprised some of you stand for that! Yuk!
I'm on a dead end street, very few cars. Deer are more likely to mow it that the village ditch mowers.
Seems I'm in a different position than most of you here. I am sure the tractors working all YOUR conventional storebought veggies are leaving more drips behind than the handful of cars we get by.

Everyone's situation is completely different.

Spinner · #20 10/18/10, 10:25 PM

I can think of a lot of places I'd rather plant "wild foods" than in a road ditch.
Rain will wash "road trash" into the ditch (road trash can include oil, transmission fluids, fuel, and a host of other things.)
Does the county, or electric company spray?
What about chemical run off that might find it's way into the ditch?
Is it a busy road? Exhaust fumes can be absorbed by the plants.