You know, that might be an idea: the fireplace. lol It gets really huge at the lower end of the slope where the water drainage slows down. I've seen roots the size of my wrist.

I was reading yesterday about using okra to break up clay soil. Find Lazygarden's post towards the bottom. Also mentioned was a daikon radish

I wouldn't voluntarily grow Johnson grass :)

Here is a link that might be useful: Quickest way to break up clay soil

Hahaha....look who is at the bottom of that post :)

LOL!! It's true, but I haven't enough kitchen scraps. :D It's a big area. I'm planting sunflowers and Okra in this area because Dawn has mentioned they're great for clay.

Unlike other areas this spot is really wet. The roots of the native shorghum are acting just like the Diakon radishes. It's really amazing. Now, I don't have a whole bunch of it but sprigs of this grass here and there. Up to this point, I've been yanking it. After the rain, I've gotten a better idea of what it's doing to the soil. Good stuff, but I wouldn't want a garden full of it. lol

Okay. She has a great idea for the Okra. "Chop and drop" sounds doable in this area. The dead root zone will provide a cut into the clay for other plants. I like that idea.

When I dig up Johnson grass I take it directly to the burn barrel.

I really need to throw some okra in the ground. It is easy to grow and a good veggie!

Lisa

Johnson grass will outgrow everything 100 to 1 whatever you plant.

If bermuda grass is evil, Johnson Grass is EVIL, EVIL, EVIL. It grows at a speed and depth that make bermuda grass look wimpy.

You have a choice. You can have a lovely garden with desirable plants of all kinds, or you can have Johnson grass. You cannot have both. Left to its own devices, Johnson grass will crowd out everything else you grow, including bermuda grass. If that doesn't scare you, it should.

I would not grow Johnson grass on purpose, not one little sprig. It is insanity to consider letting it grow on your property on purpose. I fight it tooth and nail, and I don't always win, but I keep plugging away. We have a lot less Johnson grass now than we did when we first moved here, but we'll likely never get rid of it all.

There are a million theories about how to improve clay. All that has worked for me is the constant addition of organic matter, including growing green manure crops, cover crops and compost crops. You never reach a point where you have improved your clay enough and can stop improving it, because our heat here breaks down all that organic matter much more quickly than we can add more.

Johnson grass is not the solution you think it will be. I see more gardens abandoned by late June here because new gardeners underestimated how quickly and how thick Johnson grass would come back and take over their garden plot than for any other reason. After two or three years of letting the Johnson grass take back the garden land, they simply give up gardening. If you ever let Johnson grass get the upper hand, you'll want to give up gardening too because you'll find yourself in a fight you cannot win.

I spent two evenings pulling up weed grasses in my flowerbeds. I have no clue what they are, I had multiple types, but I wasn't going to look a gift horse (rain) in the eye...I pulled all that I could. I still have dirt under my fingernails. :) Weed grasses are (hmmm, can't think of a appropriately family friendly word here...) , let's continue with EVIL.

If you have ever found a dead cow that ate Johnson grass you would detest it. That is another reason to remove every rhizome piece.

This post was edited by helenh on Thu, May 29, 14 at 18:28

LOL

Okay. Uncle! Uncle! I'll keep pulling it up. I seeded more okra and sunflowers in that area, today. I'll settle with that. :D

DH did a project up in Ft. Dodge, IA and while there we saw a field of tillage radishes. What their agriculture specialist told me was that they can send their tap root down up to 3 feet there. They shade out the weeds if planted at least 60 days prior to freeze and then decompose in the ground the following spring. I believe he said that they released a substantial amount of N in the soil. What I saw was quite impressive.

Yes helenh, frost bitten Johnson grass that has not dried for at least 10 days before a cow eats it will cause an excessive build-up of prussic acid and their death is terrible to see.

Mary

The tillage radish look similar to daikon radish.

Here is a link that might be useful: Radish: A new cover crop

Yes Lisa, according to what I was told by the agriculture specialist and also what the article you linked stated, the daikon radish is consider one of the tillage or forage radishes. They really make a neat looking field when they have matured enough that their foliage pretty much covers the ground. The foliage is soft. I had expected it to be hard and sticker-like such as you find on purple thistle weeds. We had never seen anything like them.