Hi Len

Thanks for the ideas - we had been told by engineer that we couldnt plant veges or anything that would be eaten in the irrigation area - so very good to hear a different view
Cheers

our pleasure taniwha,

engineers are good at scare mongering.

did you find that link?

len

Is this a septic or other onsite treatment system? I would be reluctant to eat anything harvested underground from such an area as the bacteria need to be exposed to soil organisms and sun for a period of time before they break down and as there are constant inflows of bacteria the produce would always be in contact with some active bacteria. Is the soil sandy or heavier loam. It is inevitable that there will be weed appearing in this area from inblown seed so consider how to deal with this when you plant it up. Lots of mulch does help but does not eliminate all weeds. Some plants I would consider are: Plectranthus varieties (P.argentea -Native grey), mondo grass, storm lillies(but they do flower) Lime ornamental sweet potato (But even tho it is edible dont eat it) Ordinary sweet potato (reddish foliage), setcraesea (purple leaf) Spider plant (plain or variegated) Acalypha reptans, dwarf nandina(sacred bamboo) or contact your local Society for growing Native plants for some suggestions. You could also mound up mulch/bark on top of it (about 150ml high) and plant sun hardy bromeliads into the mounds of bark etc and more water tolerant plants in the lower level. It really does depend on how wet it is and this depends on the soil type. Get it right and it will be fabulous - get it wrong and it will be a lot of work. Good luck

try sweet potato - will cover the area fairly quickly, and if you get a pig or a goat once the sweet potato have grown, you can feed them on the patch - they'll keep it under control and provide you with meat or milk

What about arachis pintoi? (pinto peanut) You say you don't want flowers, but these are very low growing (don't need mowing, but you can mow and whipper snip if you want)and the small clear yellow pea-type flowers on bright green foliage look quite fresh.

Can't say I'm certain they would work, but they usually take anything you can throw at them. City street gardens in Cairns use them as groundcover.

Also, some say they need innoculating, but we have grown them with and without and it seems to make little difference, to me.

Sending a pic link. Scroll down to see them. Pictures may make them look big, but they grow maybe 10cm max.

Good luck.

Here is a link that might be useful: arachis pintoi

I would not suggest to plant anything you are going to eat over a septic area unless you use low phosphorus detergents and liquids as this will kill your plants or at the very least, make them sick, thus wasting your time and money on these plants. It is also not advisable to use bleaches or harsh chemicals as it is not only bad for the health of plants but bad for the septic system too.

I personally would not want to eat something grown in my own waste water unless it was treated or filtered through a sedge/reed bed first....just my opinion.