ROADSIDE ALMANAC

Kirk Henderson, State IRVM Coordinator, created The Roadside Almanac in 1992.  Sponsored, in part, by the Living Roadway Trust Fund, the booklet continues to serve roadside managers as well as others interested in planting and maintaining healthy, diverse landscapes.  The Almanac is currently out-of-print, but its monthly calendar is available here.
 
FEBRUARY

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of topsoil

Uncontrolled surface runoff and wind blowing across plowed fields results in deposition of soil in roadsides.  Topsoil is lost and roadside vegetation gets buried.  Such disturbances kill vegetation and provide opening for weeds in the right-of-way.

Other disturbances to roadside vegetation include:

  • plowing too close to the backslope

  • herbicide drift and overspray

  • piling and burning of refuse

  • overgrazing

  • heavy equipment on steep slopes or wet ditch bottoms

Eliminating disturbances will result in fewer weeds germinating, growing and producing seeds in roadsides which in turn results in less weed pressure on fields.  Preventing disturbances to healthy vegetation is the most important means of controlling weeds in the right-of-way.










 
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