I've heard that where nettles and thistles grow, the soil is probably
fertile, but what if the gound is completely covered with high brambles and
not much else?

In article ,
anne wrote:
I've heard that where nettles and thistles grow, the soil is probably
fertile, but what if the gound is completely covered with high brambles and
not much else?

It is probably fertile.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

I bought a plot of land that was completely overgrown with Willow and dense
brambles. It had been like that for decades. The plot now has numerous
vegetable patches and lush lawn.
I created a mountain of shredded willow (and wore out an expensive shredder)
and was scratched raw by brambles that were above head height. The veggie
patches were a pain to dig out because of the tangle of willow and bramble
roots, but I've had some excellent crops in my first year. (My neighbour is
an experienced gardener and he was really teed off because my runner & broad
beans and spuds all outperformed his in yield by about 50%!

The grass was sown using Wickes lawn seed last year. I didn't dig out the
bramble roots and just cut off the willows a tad below the surface. Both
Bramble and Willow try to stick out shoots but these are dealt with by the
weekly mow before they get to be noticeable. The Brambles appear to be
giving up after a year of mowing, but there is some evidence that the
willows are tougher - although the odd patch of new toadstools suggests some
of the roots are rotting.

Peter Goddard wrote in message
...
I bought a plot of land that was completely overgrown with Willow and
dense
brambles. It had been like that for decades. The plot now has numerous
vegetable patches and lush lawn.
I created a mountain of shredded willow (and wore out an expensive
shredder)
and was scratched raw by brambles that were above head height. The veggie
patches were a pain to dig out because of the tangle of willow and bramble
roots, but I've had some excellent crops in my first year. (My neighbour
is
an experienced gardener and he was really teed off because my runner &
broad
beans and spuds all outperformed his in yield by about 50%!

The grass was sown using Wickes lawn seed last year. I didn't dig out the
bramble roots and just cut off the willows a tad below the surface. Both
Bramble and Willow try to stick out shoots but these are dealt with by the
weekly mow before they get to be noticeable. The Brambles appear to be
giving up after a year of mowing, but there is some evidence that the
willows are tougher - although the odd patch of new toadstools suggests
some
of the roots are rotting.


Thanks for this Peter :-) I was a little bit worried because my old
allotment was mainly overgrown with nettles and thistles. The soil
underneath was great though. However, the patches where the brambles had
taken over were very poor soil, full of building debris etc. I was worried
because on my new allotment the entire plot is bramble.

"anne" wrote in
:

I was a little bit worried because my old
allotment was mainly overgrown with nettles and thistles. The soil
underneath was great though. However, the patches where the brambles
had taken over were very poor soil, full of building debris etc. I was
worried because on my new allotment the entire plot is bramble.

They will grow almost anywhere, so, alas, there's no good way to tell
without looking. Last year I cleared a big patch which is very fertile,
but they also grow in my rocky banks where most other plants would
struggle.

On the upside, I've eaten a *lot* of blackberry and apple related food this
year!

Victoria
--
gardening on a north-facing hill
in South-East Cornwall
--

"anne" wrote:

Hello anne

a I've heard that where nettles and thistles grow, the soil is
a probably fertile, but what if the gound is completely
a covered with high brambles and not much else?

Could be anything - brambles grow on really poor soil and on really
good soil. The lack of anything else is probably more to do with
brambles' efficiency at removing competition than any pointer to soil
quality.

--
Simon Avery, Dartmoor, UK Ý http://www.digdilem.org/