Any ideas on good plants to grow for use as toilet paper/leaf? We are living in the mountains in central portugal and have seen what the toilet paper industry have done to this country with the planting of vast amounts of eucalyptus. Two years ago an area the size of belgium was burnt due to forest fires because of this incredibly flammable, non native cash crop. We have a compost toilet and would like to grow year round luscious leaves that can used without irritation of the skin. This can be one plant or a succession of plants that will supply our toiletary needs year round. nice one for your help
Re: bog roll plants Out here we are lucky enough to have a wild tobacco which is soft, strong and very long!
Re: bog roll plants Tobacco is a good idea! It grows well in central Portugal, too - there's a huge plantation of it a few miles away that's constantly being sprayed with noxious chemicals. I might try a few plants!
Re: bog roll plants As kids running around the scrublands and fields in the UK, we always used dock leaves. Strong and large and growing everywhere - what more could you want.
Re: bog roll plants I used to use dock leaves in the UK too. I didn't think they'd grow here but I've just seen a mention of them in an Australian book written for a climate similar to Portugal, so maybe they will. I'm over the moon that elder will grow here - I always thought it was only for cool, damp climates and couldn't believe my eyes whey I saw one in the village full of berries! (No good for bog roll though...) It's olive picking time here and lots of relatives have been arriving to help the old folk pick, and yesterday I managed to discreetly ask one of the younger ones who can speak English if she can ask her parents and grandparents which leaves they used to use, so hopefully I'll have some info for you soon, though in my experience the locals don't know the names of the wild plants even though they know all the uses for them. She did say, however, that in no circumstances are you to use a fig leave or you'll end up looking like this :butthead: