Moira wrote:
> Ivy must grow less energetically in your climate than it does in mine I
think. I would never dare to use it as a ground cover if I didn't want
everything else in the bed to be smothered double quick.
I hadn't considered this until you mentioned it but, yes, I guess the
English ivy doesn't grow as fast as the &^#*$*! Japanese honeysuckle. One
can almost see the JH growing, it's that fast. By comparison, the EI and
the vinca minor, though vigorous, are reasonably well-behaved. Vinca major,
here, is a thug.
Pat
Here too, Pat! My neighbor's creeps in and wants to take over my garden, and every spring I dig it up. In the process everything else, like vinca minor, gets dug up too, but survives.
But ivy is horrible and I am going to have to eradicate it completely. It comes from under a fence from another neighbor...
Carol
> But ivy is horrible and I am going to have to eradicate it completely. It
comes from under a fence from another neighbor...
> Carol
Ivy is a relative of ginseng (second cousin in fact) and I find it
unfortunate that it does not grow any faster because many of my animals
(goats,sheep, cattle, horses) love it. When these grazers have access to ivy
they will be almost certainly free of liver fluke even in areas where there
is a lot of it around.
Another use we have for ivy is as an eye cure. Sheep or cattle sometimes get
dirt in their eyes and since they have not the dexterity of us humans this
sometimes starts festering. When this happens you can call a vet and for
around $40 he will tell you to buy a tube of ophtalmic orbenin ointment
(contains broadspectrum tetracyclin) that you need to put in the eye twice a
day for at least four days. This probably sounds like a reasonable thing to
do for a towny but you have any idea how difficult it is to catch that cow
on day three when she sees you coming with your little tube? Some clever
ones catch the drift on day one and go hiding in the forest for the rest of
the week. Even a sheep is no fun. They can go 25 miles an hour up hill and
making a cougar dive for them has cost many a farmer dearly. All this just
to make you see that modern ways in farming are not always practical.
(unless it is combined with severe confinement) One old way to cure
"pink-eye" is this : find two fresh ivy leaves and put them in your mouth.
Chew as fine as you can (they are bitter) while you inspect the infected eye
of your cow or sheep. Look straight at the animal and make a strange sound
(there is scope for improvisation here) so that the afflicted beast opens
the eyes wide. That is the time to spit all you have got into the eye in
question. The animal will be so surprised that it will not immediately
retaliate. In fact you can let go now for the patient will be making for the
horizon at full speed and it is less painfull (for you) if you don't hang
on. That one treatment usually does the job.
Another reason why I would never try to destroy ivy is that it is very
extremely important for honey bees. Ivy blossoms very late in the year when
there is nothing else for bees to forage on. Some beekeepers of course don't
like this because ivy honey does not taste very nice (to human tastes). The
thing is that I would never feed bees diluted white sugar to get them
through the winter. Most beekeepers do and they feed enough of it so that
they can sell it next season as honey. Anyway ivy honey has the advantage
that it is healthy for the bees. There is even some hope at present that it
might be useful to fight varoa mites in honey bees.
John
John, I am still laughing at your description of treating an animal with ivy
"juice", wonderful, I'm gladder every day I'm not a farmer!
susan
John D'hondt wrote:
Patricia Ruggiero wrote:
I think Vinca major and Japanese honeysuckle probably fall in the thug
class everywhere!
Our major ground-covering pest here though is probably Tradescantia
(Wandering Willy).
Moira
--
Tony & Moira Ryan,
Wainuiomata, North Island, NZ. Pictures of our garden at:-
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/cherie1/Garden/TonyandMoira/index.htm
John, I enjoyed it, too. A very clever, yet very sensible technique.
Pat
Susan wrote:
> John, I am still laughing at your description of treating an
> animal with ivy "juice", wonderful, I'm gladder every day I'm not a
farmer!
