Subject: Re: Legumes

From: [email-masked]
Date: Fri, 29 Aug 1997 08:44:28 -0400 (EDT)

In a message dated 8/29/97 5:05:47 AM, [email-masked] (Keith
Elwell-Gavins) wrote:

>So, I guess you can see that I like acacias. As a PC plant they are
>among the best, but even in Australia they have not yet been used to
>their maximum benefit. I do not know what species you have available, 
>but I think many of our varieties have been exported. If you do have
>any Australian spp. available, let me know and I will give you the
>horticultural info on them and suitabilty to your site.
>
>All the best, Keith.

Nice post, Keith.

In the Philippines I was taken by a procumbant woody mimosa-family plant that
makes an excellent groundcover, is green when everything else is dead, and
manages to fix nitrogen somehow even in compacted soil.  I felt that it would
be a good plant to substitute for white Dutch clover in a Fukuoka system, but
the locals disagreed because the plant is spiny and Filipinos garden
barefoot!  However in the USA  such plants would be very useful in areas
which experience drought.  Like most species that survive drought due to deep
taproots, they probably need a wet season to get established, or else
irrigation.  It would be interesting to see if rabbits avoid the spines.  By
a strange coincidence, there seem to be some growing in my father's Florida
lawn, where they have survived his propensity for mowing.

As for Acacia spp in the US, an excellent source for seed is JL Hudson.

For Mother Earth, Dan Hemenway, Yankee Permaculture Publications (since
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Copyright, 1997, Dan & Cynthia Hemenway, P.O. Box 52, Sparr FL 32192 USA
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