Planting food in the ditch at the road...

You can't do that Dexter, you'll get very heavilly fined if you plant JA's or any other plants in road-side ditches in BC. You can't do anything to ditches that will interfere with free flow of water.

JA's in particular are classified as a non-indigenous invasive species in Canada and are supposed to be kept under control. Check your district and environmental by-laws before you think about planting anything in or near ditches, especially if there's a chance that runoff from your ditches connects with spawning streams. The spawning streams is one of the reasons why herbicides are not used along ditches. As a property owner you're supposed to try to help keep ditches along your property lines clear and clean to allow for free movement of water, especially at flood times, not let them get all clogged up with plants and dead plant debris.

If you want tall plants along your property lines for privacy then plant something indigenous and non-invasive that you can control up on your own side of the ditch. If I recall correctly anything you plant alongside ditches on your property has to be a minimum of 6 feet away from the edge of the ditch. It will be your responsibility to ensure the roots of anything you plant won't interfere with the ditch's stability and that the plants won't spread down into the ditch.

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all these arguments except for the Legal one are un founded, based solely on our Humanized Ideals but are simply not the case, if the toxins in the soil were so bad then NOTHING would grow there,

Plants are Filters, first they filter the water and nutrients they need from the soil, and all the Carbondioxide from the air, they then filter it thru their plant parts before even thinking about produceing any fruit, unless you just dont wash your food before you eat it there is nothing wrong with anything grown in the ditch, think about it, all the produce sold in the supermarket has been exposed to Pesticide, weed killer in some cases, chemical fertilizer, and all the tractor exost, if you take pure mirical grow or any other chemical fertilizer and eat it, you will get really sick or possibly die, but we dont think twice about eating anything grown from the same thing,

the only vegitable/plant types that could even have a chance of harboring toxin is Greens like Spinich or some other salad types but still not in a quantity that would harm us,

Wash your food regardless of where it grows and if it grows you can eat it.

I just thought of something else which causes me to not be worried. A few years ago, we were looking for some decent soil or compost to build up some low plots. Quite a mound of it showed up and looked good. Everyone who used it commented on how great it was and the results proved that it was good. Strange thing was that it was loaded with flattened soda cans, bits of automotive plastic lens, and other odd bits of inorganic matter. It was all from the street sweeper!

Martin

So it looks like most are assuming that the OP lives next to an interstate.

I grew pumpkins next to my mail box and trained them along the ditch. Saved me from mowing that space. Some neighbors scoffed but I caught them later drooling over my pumpkins. Made a few pies and jack-o-lanterns for me and friends.

He doesn't live next to an interstate. He lives in British Columbia, there aren't any interstates in BC.

Naturelover is right, the agricultural, environmental and fish & wildlife habitat laws in British Columbia are not the same as they are in USA. It's against the law to interfere with roadside ditches anywhere in the province and fines for doing so are heavy. There are ditches and dike systems everywhere that are all part of integrated fish and wildlife habitat systems. They must be maintained free of heavy plant growth and decomposing plant debris, kept free flowing and unpolluted since they all connect into salmon spawning habitats.

Hmm, my place is on a low traffic gravel road. My property line is the center of the road and the county has an easement 25ft into my property.

Haven't had the place long enough to know if they mow the easement now and then, I doubt it though. I don't think I would have any issues doing this as there isn't a ditch of any kind just flat ground. I could probably even fence off most of the easement that isn't used and get away with it but I don't plan to try it.

I used to mow our ditch but besides the work involved I kind of got concerned about safety (its deep and I almost rolled the garden tractor) so I let it just grow naturally. Twice a year the county comes along with the batwing mowers and mows it and I noticed the last time they did spray to keep down the blackberry brambles and other woody growth so I dont think I would do that in my area. We enjoy the natural growth and just leave it at that.

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www.salmonslayer-simplelife.blogspot.com

Same in China

I wouldn't want to eat anything that grew in the bar ditch. When there is a lot of rain, it gets all kinds of yucky runoff. Nasty, nasty. Then, of course, in some areas, it is weed sprayed and/or mosquito sprayed.

Some years ago, a teacher friend was featured in our local paper for his garden. It was the 6' terrace between curb and sidewalk, about 100' long, and a street with no parking on that side. In the fall, he would plant hundreds of tulip bulbs. As soon as they were done blooming in the spring, they were dug up and vegetables were planted. Since then, others have continued with similar projects which are usually a mix of flowers and vegetables. As long as they leave a strip of sod for car passengers to exit onto, no problem. I gardened to within 5' of the roadway for years until the city decided that we needed curb and sidewalk. Now have 6' of worthless terrace and 4' of equally worthless concrete before I can plant anything. Even then, city still has another 6' which they could use if they wished.

Martin

Here it seems the best growth of grass is on the RoW. I once cut it and took my rake to rake it. That was before I had a dump rake. I ended up bending several bows and after I got them restraightened, that was the end of that, I often thought, when I first moved here, as most of the RoW is fenced, for ther 10 mile length of Slick Rd, To get a doz kids on horseback and a wagon and 2 or 3 doz cows, and walk them slowly along the R o Ws to eat up/down the grass, and to sell them when we got to the other end, or to turn them around and go back. Everybody would pack iron, and wed only do a mile a day, and sleep out. A Kids idea. That ended when they repaved the road, and simis found u could do 60 on it.

J chokes..information. It is a rare choke that sets seed. Most increase by tubers. They do not need to bloom to set tubers. If you mow them or the deer eat them, all they need is enough top growth left in the season to feed some small tubers to start the cycle over again. The original tuber/plant dies after the first season. They need moisture but "wet feet" will rot the tubers. I ssell/trade tubers and ALWAYS tell folks how envasive they are. I believe I have also mentioned that some areas consider them noxious weeds and to take care when planting.
Back to the OP. It happens for me that if I find something growing on the road right-of-way, as soon as I think it is ready to harvest(or even transplant) someone else harvests it or it gets mowed. No control and way too much frustration. A thought re the toxic absorbtion. I could swear I have heard of systems that employ plants(perhaps algae/water weeds) to clean water. If so the "toxins" are in the plants..right?

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" As needs-MUST!!"--- in other words..a gal does what a gal has too!

Actually, I now need to add sulphur to my fertilizer bill when I grow corn or other grasses - we used to get enough sulphur from the rains - it came from diesel fumes. So, the diesel exhaust was a good thing, in some way.

And of course, a bad thing in others - there were bad things in the fumes as well. Not trying to make any goofy point.... Just saying, it wasn't all yukky.

Tier 4 diesels (mandated on new) now output almost better air than they take in, at the expense of some efficiency & one needs to add nitrogen to the exhaust - more complicated. And much more expensive. But, things have changed a lot on new diesel engines.

--->Paul

When I lived in Nova Scotia we had lupins growing in the road ditches. Thousands of them. I used to cut some for flower bouquets. Nobody seemed to mind and the flowers were pretty.

Alice in Virginia

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There is nothing any worse than an angry little old lady, they've had a lifetime to learn all the dirty tricks and people get upset if you hit them!

When it comes right down to it, there is no sound health reason why food gardens can not be planted in railroad and highway right-of-ways. There is no study to prove that any certain distance from the traffic is or is not safe. Solid residue from vehicle traffic is so miniscule that the slightest breeze may carry it for miles. The same particles may come from farm and garden machinery and some even from our own shoes.

Martin