Fencelines are a
problem. If you’re not willing to use herbicides, weeds tend to
grow up along and through them, and if you’ve got vines like Japanese
honeysuckle around, the fence might soon bow down under the weight of
the plant life.
Even though chickens
like the protected areas behind these “vine hedges”, I’d rather keep the chaos a
bit controlled. One hypothesis I have for achieving that control
without too much work is that a vigorous planting right along the
outside edge of a fenceline will keep weeds at bay but will not be
demolished by chicken beaks. If the plants want to spread, they
can grow into the pasture and be eaten, but some will always stay
protected on the outside.
Comfrey and Jerusalem
artichokes seemed like good fits for this fenceline planting, so I kill
mulched about ten feet of fenceline and installed our living weed
barrier. The comfrey is the Bocking
4 I ordered from
Coe’s Comfrey a few weeks ago — it came in great shape, three for the
price of two. I’ve got plenty of my unknown-variety comfrey that
I can spread along other fencelines next year if this experiment works,
and both the Bocking 4 and Jerusalem artichokes should be ready to
divide up in a year or two as well.
Do you have a favorite
way of maintaining fencelines without a lot of work or chemicals?
Perennials may control weeds along fences
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About The Author
Anna & Mark
Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton are a pair of back-to-the-landers who have been homesteading for over a decade.
From my very little experience, i’ve found B4 mucg more difficult to propagate than B14. I’ve read that chicken are more prone to eat b4 than B14, so this might be good for your chicken, but not for your confrey groundcover
thanks for all great infos
Subject says it all. Goats are great at keeping weeds down. And anything else that grows. And your fences too, given half a chance. We’ve already lost two apple trees, had several holes in our fences, and repeated break outs.
I love our goats, but they’re a handful. They’re cheap to feed, and give excellent milk, but costly in terms of fencing (you either pay for a fence that can keep them in, or you pay for the damage they can do if they get out).
Either way, they do keep both sides of their fence squeaky clean.
Rhesa — We seriously considered goats (or sheep) for that purpose, but building more serious fences seemed like a lot more effort than just patrolling for weeds ourselves. 🙂 We may still go there someday when everything else is under control and we’re ready for another big undertaking, but for now, I think we’ll stick to manpower.
Nicolas — Interesting data point! I’m okay with this particular spot of comfrey not taking over the world if the chickens really like it. I’m glad I have another variety to compare it to, though.