Weeds

What are weeds?

Weeds are plants that we don’t have a use for.
There are lots of definitions - they're pests, enemies, noxious, evil, treacherous, say gardeners and farmers.
Gardeners and farmers who fight weeds are the enemy because they are the ones damaging the soil.
Weeds are nature’s primary way of repairing damaged soil.
If you don't want to fight weeds then don't damage the soil. It’s that simple.

"Weeds are evidence of nature struggling to bring about natural succession," says Preston G. Sullivan, "When we clear native vegetation and establish annual crops, we defy ecological succession. Man is, in effect, holding back natural plant succession, at great cost in weed control." Sullivan says the answer is more biodiversity: "Stability through biodiversity is one of nature's fundamental rules."

Weeds and diversity

In effect, the weeds are trying to turn your land back into a forest, using natural succession as the way to do this.
If you observe a fallow ploughed field for a few years, you will see that each year there is a different dominant “weed” and as the years pass, a greater diversity of “weeds” appear in the field.

"What are the main principles underlying Nature's agriculture? These can most easily be seen in operation in our woods and forests. Mixed farming is the rule: plants are always found with animals: many species of plants and of animals all live together." (From Chapter 1, Introduction, "An Agricultural Testament", by Sir Albert Howard)

Cover the soil

Increased biodiversity and maintaining good soil fertility will solve weed problems.
Some weeds grow to cover an exposed soil that's vulnerable to erosion and run-off - nature hates exposed soil.
So cover it yourself, with a mulch, or better, with a "living mulch" composed of a diversity of close-planted crops.
Some weeds are deep-rooting plants that go down to the subsoil to collect fresh minerals when the topsoil runs out of them.
Composting will maintain topsoil minerals.
It's also a good idea to leave some of them growing – the “weeds” serve as trap crops and good "companion plants" for your crops and they're good for the soil.
Living mulch: plants that cover the ground so no soil is exposed.