WHY WEED

 

 

Ahh, about this time of year, the humdrum task of weeding, whether it be the garden or flower beds, begins to weigh on even the most devoted gardener. It seems like you pull one and two takes its place.

Some are even sneaky. I got the whole garden weeded the other day. It looked so nice until I noticed a weed a foot tall hiding in the midst of a potato plant. Real sneaky!

Of course, like most everything, there are two sides to every issue. Believe it or not, weeding is no exception. There are some people of the philosophy that some weeds can be beneficial. Really? Well, to give them the benefit of the doubt, here is their reasoning:

*Weeds are an easy-to-grow superfood. Ones like lamb’s quarters and purslane are actually nutrient-packed. Purslane growing with corn will make the corn grow better.

*Weeds can be free groundcover. Wherever there is open ground, if you don’t plant something, something will plant itself. So, you may as well choose what you want in that space. This is actually a good thing because topsoil is lost to erosion where there is bare ground.

*They attract beneficial insects and pollinators. Bees don’t care if the flower that serves them nectar is planted on purpose or is a product of the wild.

*Weeds act as food for problem bugs. Many bad ones dine on weeds while beneficial ones can also find certain weeds very tasty. Also, some good insects actually feed on the bad ones. There will always be bugs, the trick is to have a healthy balance.

*Many, such as chickweed, clover, dandelions, chickory, lemon balm, German chamomile, purslane and thistles are great soil builders. There are over 20 different plants that show up every year whose roots go deep in the soil and pull up nutrients in their leaves. When they die in the fall, the nutrients go back into the soil.

*Weeds can be used for a weed tea fertilizer, another way they benefit the ground. For every pound of weeds, add eight cups of water in a bucket. Cover it and let it “brew” for two to four weeks. It will have a foul smell but it works wonders for the plants you actually want to grow. To speed up the process, you can boil the weeds and use the liquid. Either way, plants can be powerful medicine.

 

 

OK, now the case for those of us who want a clean space, free of weeds:

 

 

 

 

*All plants need water, sun and nutrients to thrive. Weeds compete with the desired plants for these and often they survive and push the good plants out.

*Every plant has a root zone, sort of like its personal space. When the roots of one plant try to share space with another, the plants become stressed. Consider that roots of tomato plants can spread to five feet in diameter. Thus, weeds compete for space below ground too.

*Weeds will crowd out garden fruits by blocking plants’ flowers from both light and pollinators. Without these factors, plants cannot produce.

*Weeds can camouflage pests and disease, letting these get the upper hand.

*Weeds can create a habitat for pests to over-winter.

*They can carry crop diseases. Insects like aphids feed on the weeds then move to the crops.

*Some weeds like lamb’s quarters, thistle and pigweed may contain allelopathic compounds that create a zone of infertility around roots. This is designed so they can take full advantage of sun, water and nutrients. They can even inhibit the germination of seeds altogether which is the reason why cover crops work so well. This not only affects the current season, but the next season as well which makes crop rotation so important.

*Weeds area a problem that only compounds itself. Several successions of weeds can grow to maturity and go to seed before the garden is done producing. One lamb’s quarter can have over 75,000 seeds. Thistles produce about 2000 seeds each, but just the thought of 2000 more thistles…yikes!

*Weeds just look bad! They make a garden or any space look unkept.

 

All in all, I think most would agree that, despite their few defining qualities, weeds just don’t belong in flower beds and gardens. 

BEHOLD THE TERTILL!

For those that absolutely despise weeding, there is the Tertill…weeding’s answer to the Roomba for vacuuming. It lives in the garden, lives on sunshine (solar powered) and runs everyday gobbling up the little monsters. You have to have at least a foot between rows and a barrier around the perimeter of the garden to keep it from wandering off.

It works on small weeds by cutting them off at ground level. Never mind that it doesn’t get the roots, since it works every day, if they grow back, they just get cut off again. If there is anything that you want protected, just put a barrier around it.

I may be the odd one out, but I actually enjoy weeding. Yes, it is a little daunting knowing that the job is never ending all through the growing season but there is a peace, a serene feeling when I am in the garden, just me and my weeds. It’s like I am making my space that God entrusted me with better while at the same time relieving all tension and stress. Weed on!