I've gotten cited twice this spring by Tampa's code people for my front fence line being overgrown......I'd agree as regards the perennial morning glory Ipomomea acuminata that has become fucking kudzu here in my fertile soil, though I liked the husky roses 'Barfield White Climber' and 'Marechal Niel' on the same trellis. I continue my battle against a weed I truly loathe....Bidens a.k.a "Spanish Needle", a member of the Daisy family.....I feed nearly all I pull (cussing and grunting as I yank the bastards) to my chickens and ducks. If I could wriggle my nose like Samantha in 'Bewitched' I'd make it extinct in my yard as others love it as a veggie plus butterfly plant. The code guy seems happy since he sees that despite my cracked ribs I've scaled back those two roses, plus eliminated completely that scary morning perennial morning glory and am clearly clearing my lot for better order and productivity.
As I clear out my front yard I am using the stalks of Bolivian Sunflower (Tithonia diversifolia) and Cherry Laurel and more to rebuild up a DEEP (goal is 2 feet) mulch layer around each of my bananas that have survived 6 years of drought in south Tampa with kitchen graywater and by being pee'd on. Tidying up my front yard (Bidens especially) will as a reward provide live green plant matter for my ducks, chickens and bananas. Winter kill from the 27 degree winter freezes gave me lots of dead cassava stalks to use to recreate ongoing compost heaps around each surviving banana plant, where I am also adding stalks from my aggressive rose out front 'Rosa bracteata', plus my purple odontonema, rotted firewood people set out curbside, bags of leaves similarly rescued curb side, plus branches of the Cherry Laurel and "False Mulberry" that annually, perennially that sends suckers into my yard many feet from the parent plant.
My goal is to buid up 2-3 feet of compost formers around my bananas and, to a lesser extent, my papaya plants in hopes I get a WONDERFULLY wet summer and fall here in south Tampa to help rehydrate our dry sandy soils that we are forced to work with.
Complying with my code violation by eliminating that kudzu-like perennial morning glory while turning cut back roses and tropical flowers into compost via "sheet composting" seems to me a win-win situation as regards all parties involved. John
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