Ground Ivy vs buckthorn; Recipes - Lima bean pumpkin seed salad and Wakame seaweed salad.

Round one goes to Ground Ivy in the Ground cover Battle Royale; buckthorn control tactics; plus two recipes at the end. *post too long for email - photos **I can't shrink some of the photos.

As I was reading about Ground Ivy and why people don't like it, I thought it might be a handy feature against buckthorn, a shrubby tree like invasive. The Ground Ivy roots repel other plants from growing adding to its lawn nemesis functions. Spreads by roots and will suppress other species - like buckthorn and ornamental vines gone wild.

Buckthorn in the foreground still waiting to be dealt with - glossy egg shaped leaves with a point. Larger shrubs or tree size will get greenish tiny cluster of flowers that turn into purplish black round berries.

Ground cover helps limit other invasives.

Where there is sunshine, growth will happen of underbrush like buckthorn and prettier honeysuckle.

The first year I was back at my childhood home (3 or 4 years ago) I pulled and cut buckthorn where some large trees had fallen leaving more sunshine.

Where there is sun, something will try to grow. There were larger berry dropping tree size buckthorn in the area so many seedlinvasive.

Iris, daylilies, Lily of the Valley, myrtle, are flowers that fill in space over time.

I moved iris from shady locations where they weren't blooming and will get some this year, 2 years after moving them. A few bluebells went along too. The Ground Ivy was already in the area and it has filled in some of where I had cleared.

Iris in the foreground, ground ivy filling in the middle and the overgrown area shown in the last post is now weeded and the old and a couple new buckthorn stumps are covered with buckthorn baggies or contractor grade garbage bags tied with string - for the old stumps that had a gob of new sprouts making it a small bush.

Lily of the Valley like rich moisture soil and to not be mowed or driven on. The flowers smell phenomenal in the spring. Bluebells seem to cohabitation well with the thick growing Lily of the Valley tubers/bulbs.

Lily of the Valley aren't going to be for areas that need to walked tgrough regularly. It is better to treat them like a flowerbed flower, just one that may spread over a moist rich valley.

English bluebells which I transplanted from where they were spilled over into lawn mower areas in the Lily of the Valley bed. They spread by seed, slowly.

Bluebells in their first year, a few are in the lawn area and could be moved to other areas to spread there slowly by seed.

Myrtle, below, early spring. The green will fill in and it may get a few flowers throughout the summer but not as many as at first after winter melt.

Buckthorn Bags

What I learned later about buckthorn is to cover stumps with black plastic bags, zip tie it on the base with the plastic edge flared out to catch any sprout attempts. Otherwise the year after you cut a buckthorn stump it grows into a bush of sprouts.

Sassafras baby orchard vs ornamental vines gone wild. Garlic mustard has entered the ring.

Four sassafras are somewhere in this clearing. Invasive vines are stil waiting to be pulled on the right hand side of the pic.

I recleared the area where I transplanted sassafras trees and four have survived. Sassafras leaves are used in Gumbo file spice which thickens soup or acts as an egg replacer in my vegan baking. I think I will move some Ground Ivy to the area and see if it helps keep the buckthorn and vines from taking over.

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Other recipe ideas for Ground Ivy

Lima bean and pumpkin seed rice salad

Entree salad for vegans or protein rich starchy salad for non vegans. It has little rice in ratio to the lima beans and pumpkin seeds.

• Presoak one cup raw pumpkin seeds over night or for a few hours. Boil with one pound bag of frozen baby lima beans for about 8 minutes - more or less depending on how al dente or soft is preferred - how much chewing is needed.

• Drain, reserve the broth water.

• Mix with ~ one cup cooked rice,

• 1/4-1/2 cup diced yellow or other Bell peppers, a little hot pepper if desired and extra garlic and sweet onion would be nice.

• I added about 1/3 cup of the Ground Ivy salad dressing and the mix seemed oily enough but too mild and not enough liquid for the rice. So I added a few spoons of the cooking liquid, a couple of apple cider vinegar and about a 1/4 cup of Nutritional Yeast Flakes which add some flavor and creaminess.

The Ground Ivy leaves are mild enough to just eat a few so I added a sprig worth per serving as a garnish and I tend to salt to taste at the table. It would be good plain or with some lettuce or other greens. Or pomegranate seeds.

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Wakame seaweed salad

• Wakame, 3 tablespoons dried, rinse, soak in water for five minutes and drain.

• Add 2 tablespoons finely chopped sweet onion and two to three tablespoons of the Ground Ivy salad dressing.

• I ate it as two servings, topped with sliced Brazil nuts (*sliced with a knife I use to mince garlic, similar cut). The Brazil nuts provide selenium to balance the iodine content in the seaweed.

This was the first time I have made wakame for myself and it is was easy. And it is fun seeing a little pile of twiggy bits fluff up into what looks like lettuce leaves but is a little chewier and more gelatinous - more like gummy candies.

Traditional Korean Wakame salad would have sesame seeds and a rice vinegar dressing.

I bought myself four types of seaweed and Nori sheets as I seem to be tolerating and craving it. My first try looks more like a burrito so far. Now chilling over night.

• Kombu is added to soup stock, 4 inch piece, to add flavor to the broth and improve digestibility of beans. It is removed rather than eaten.

• Hijiki is tiny black leaves that become noodle shaped when soaked but are short.

• Arame I will need to wait and see.

• Wakame makes the instant green salad or is used in miso soup, just add it and it fluffs.

• Nori sheets are used to make Nori rolls or sushi.

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