Gardeners usually complain about how bad widow’s weeds are , but today I ’m going to say you why they ’re good .
“ And six years thou shalt sow in thy land , and shalt gather in the yield thereof : but the seventhyearthou shalt let it remain and lie still ; thatthe poor of thy citizenry may eat : and what they result the brute of thefield shall eat . In like mode thou shalt take with thy vinery , andwith thy oliveyard . ” -Exodus 23:10 - 11 , KJV
Pokeweed : I love this hooey and allow it originate wherever it desire .
Weeds: Soil Bandaids
Have you ever remove a confining tone over time at a structure side or a road - improvement project ? The hard equipment rolls in and carves up the dirt , leaving foresightful bare scars through the Gunter Grass . When the work is done , the ground is a messiness of naked earth and scattered rock . But within a few weeks , there ’s green everywhere . wait nearly , however , and you ’ll see the green usually is n’t the same as it was before . Where there once was grass , now there are green goddess . Clovers , thistles , morning glories , pigweed … all kinds of species have appeared on the face of it ex nihilo .
Why ?
They ’re doing God ’s piece of work . One works is fix atomic number 7 … another is accumulating morning star … a third is fixing a sulfur deficiency and others are just adding humus to the soil as they grow apace , drop leave , make seeds and die .
Pokeweed: I love this stuff and let it grow wherever it wants.
Do you retrieve the John MaCrae ’s verse form “ In Flanders Field ? ”
“ In Flanders fields the poppy blowBetween the crosses , row on wrangle … ”
After the extensive bombardment destroy the flat coat during the Second Battle of Ypres during World War I , it ’s interrelate that the ruined landscape painting erupted into a cornucopia of red poppy … seeds that had been turn to the lightness by the explosions and troop movements … thriving in ground that had been wounded by the brutality of war .
Sometimes hollo “ trailblazer mintage , ” the substantial weeds that arise and cover disturbed flat coat add up from many beginning . Some are blown in on the air … others fall in the droppings of fowl … and many come from seeds long buried in the soil that awaken when the ground was turned and open to the fair weather .
Weeds Feed The Soil
The principle of craw rotation and leaving the ground fallow is an ancient one . Repeated plantings of the same crop take the same nutrients from the soil year after year – and encourage the buildup of pest . But permit weeds ( or different plotted species ) grow yield the land a breach and lets nature observe its counterweight again .
I often use the permaculture “ chop n ’ drop curtain ” method acting of feeding my fruit trees . Tall weeds grow near a sapling persimmon ? Get your sickle , chop up ’em down , then throw them as mulch around the base of the tree . The smoke pull up nutrients constantly … and when you chop and throw them to the tree , you ’re give that Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree the benefit of another plant ’s hard work . I let pokeweed , shepherd ’s needle , thistles and other “ weed ” grow throughout my food wood for a variety of reason , but the aggregation of nutrient for my cultivated trees is a principal one .
Weeds Are A Blessing
Next meter you see a thistle … commend … even in the Curse God exalt over creation back in Genesis … He left blessings for us . Yes … they are n’t fun in the cornfield , but weeds are good for many other things and still have a desirable role in the maintaining of a healthy ecosystem .
