Weeds - This is not a specific type of plant. In nature, they have equal rights with all other representatives of the flora. This is what they are called by those who care for and cherish vegetables, berries, flowers and fruits. All foreign plants in the garden are enemies for them. If you ask any gardener whether weeds are needed in the garden, everyone will answer no, and they will be right.
But not everything is so simple. Outside the garden, weeds can not only bring tangible benefits, but also act as medicine for both people and plants. Some of them help to successfully combat various pests that plague garden crops. They give signals about the acidity and fertility of the soil. Many can serve as mulch and even fertilizer. In a word, the functions weeds a lot of. But let's first figure out what harm they do.
Weed damage
What harm do weeds cause to crops, animals and humans?
- They take away food from cultivated species, preventing them from developing. Plants, which we call weeds, are taught by nature itself to develop without human intervention, ensuring their existence in all possible ways. In terms of water and nutrition consumption, most of them are far ahead of cultivated plants. Tall weeds, shading crops, interfere with their photosynthesis process, which can even lead to the death of vegetable plants. Weed control for better living conditions depletes cultivated species.According to statistics, crop losses in agriculture due to weeds can reach a quarter, and if they are widespread, half or more. Of course, on his personal plot, the gardener will not allow such outrage of weeds and will remove them on time. Remove weeds during the germination phase. An unbranched root will not sprout. If the root of a weed plant begins to branch, the weed will definitely grow back.
- They can serve as carriers of dangerous diseases, even if they themselves are not sick. Wheatgrass and nettle can infect grain crops with rust. The same wheatgrass carries the pathogen of ergot and powdery mildew to crop plants. Together with bristle grass and wild oats, they infect garden crops with root rot. Nightshade carries potato blight, and wild cruciferous plants are sources of downy mildew. Many viruses that infect crop plants first appear on weeds and from there are transferred by sucking insects to vegetables or grains. Wheatgrass is a weed that is very difficult to remove from the garden. Even a piece of root 1 cm long can germinate. Dig up the soil using a fork that does not cut the wheatgrass roots into pieces, carefully selecting even small pieces of roots.
- They provide shelter to various pests of garden crops. Bindweed and sow thistle are places where the fall armyworm lays eggs. Its caterpillars feed on plants of the cereal family. They are also attacked by flies - Swedish and Hessian, they lay eggs on the roots of cereal weeds. Pests of cultivated species of this family reproduce on wild cruciferous plants: cabbage moths, flea beetles, cabbage beetles.
- The meadow moth lays eggs on bindweed and wormwood, and its caterpillars damage many garden crops.Where there is wheatgrass, there is always a lot of wireworm, which contributes to its reproduction. Even if there are no weeds in the beds, but they are rampant in nearby spaces, pests very easily move onto cultivated plants. Mow grass on roadsides, along fences, and in the garden to prevent pests from breeding.
- Weeds can parasitize crop plants, sucking nutrients from them. This is the difference between dodder and broomrape - parasitic plants.
- Getting into forage grasses, can cause poisoning in animals. If weed seeds get into the grain, the flour not only loses its taste, but can also become poisonous.
- Wild plants can cross-pollinate with cultivated species, worsening their varietal qualities. This phenomenon is observed in grains and cruciferous vegetables. When growing cabbage seeds, make sure that colza, mustard and other wild cruciferous plants do not grow in the vicinity.
- Ambrosia is a weed that causes severe allergic reactions in humans.
Attention! When ragweed blooms, all allergy sufferers need to take antihistamines to prevent allergies from worsening.
This is the behavior of weeds in fields and beds. Of course, there is no place for them there. But all these plants are also found in areas not developed by humans. Collected there they can serve a person well.
Weed use
How to use weeds for the benefit of humans and crops? The uses of these plants are very diverse, and the benefits of weeds are not in doubt.
- Use for food. Surprisingly, many weeds can be successfully used as food plants. Properly prepared, they are not only healthy, but also tasty.It turns out that squash can be added to soups and salads and even fermented like cabbage.
- Burdock roots are quite edible when boiled or fried. In Japan, this plant is grown as a cultivated plant; not a single variety of it is bred there. Many dishes are prepared from Siberian hogweed. You can make cutlets from wheatgrass roots by grinding them in a meat grinder. Dandelion leaves and young leaves of clover and plantain are added to the salad. And chickweed mixed with other herbs can serve as an excellent filling for pies.
The leaves of wild primrose contain a record amount of vitamin C, which is very important in the spring, when salads are prepared from it. Dandelion contains a lot of beta-carotene. Well, young nettle soup is just a classic. You can even make dessert from weeds, for example, make delicious and healthy dandelion jam. When using wild plants for food, remember that you cannot collect them near busy highways. Plants tend to absorb harmful substances emitted by car exhaust gases.
- Many weeds are also medicinal. The list of them is very long, and they often treat diseases more effectively than conventional medications. Suffice it to recall yarrow, dandelion, nettle, clover, coltsfoot, St. John's wort, which can cure many diseases. The same wheatgrass helps with joint pain, kidney and respiratory tract diseases. There are plants that even help cope with cancer. These are hemlock and aconite. Simple burdock is an excellent preventative against cancer. The rubber molecules contained in its roots are similar to cancer cells. When they enter the human body, they force it to produce special immune cells to destroy themselves.At the same time, all other atypical cells, including cancer ones, are destroyed.
Japan is famous for its nutrition programs, in which a significant place is given to the consumption of burdock. It is not for nothing that the Japanese are the healthiest nation in the world. Even the best medicinal plants have contraindications for their use. Keep this in mind when planning to use herbal medicine. - Even in garden beds they can be useful. Weeded in time and put into a compost heap, they will provide invaluable benefits to gardeners who, with their help, enrich the soil with organic matter and many useful substances. Most plants are rich in nitrogen, dandelion and sorrel leaves have a lot of phosphorus, and chamomile, yarrow and nettle are sources of potassium. Horsetail will enrich the compost with silicon. Weeds also contain microelements. If cultivated plants have already gained strength, weed control, especially annual weeds, can be slightly weakened. By covering the soil with a green carpet, they protect it from overheating. Left over the winter, they will enrich the soil with organic matter, their dead roots will become food for earthworms. Do not let the plants left in the beds be inseminated, so that next season you will not have to fight them with redoubled force.
- Rich mineral composition of weed allows you to prepare from them a very useful fertilizer for garden plants. The richer the herbal composition of such a fertilizer, the more benefits it will have for garden crops. The technology for its preparation is very simple. The container is ¾ filled with chopped herbs and filled with water. During the fermentation process, water is enriched with nutrients. After a week, the solution can be used for feeding, diluting it ten times with water.This green elixir is not suitable only for onions and garlic. All other garden plants respond to this feeding with increased growth. Metal utensils should not be used to prepare this fertilizer. An unwanted oxidation process may occur in it.
- Weeds also help in pest control. Plants containing phytoncides, such as wormwood, tansy, and dandelion, serve as natural insecticides in the fight against leaf-eating insects, mites and many other pests. Decoctions and infusions made from them are a mild and effective remedy. Unlike chemicals, natural ones are safe for humans, so their use is preferable.
- Weeds can become indicators of soil health. Horsetail, cinquefoil, three-horned violet, and buttercup indicate that the soil is too acidic and it’s time to lime it. If white pigweed has settled in large quantities on a potato plot, the plot is depleted and it’s time to change it. If there is a lot of chamomile in the garden, the soil is too dense and needs to be loosened more often. And the spread of weeds from the cruciferous family indicates an excess of potassium in the soil.
- Weeds can also perform another very important function for gardeners - they can be used to create an excellent mulch layer that will help reduce the number of waterings, prevent the soil from overheating, and increase its fertility. There are plants whose mulch can prevent plant diseases. For example, a layer of nettles under tomatoes will be a preventative against late blight.
You cannot use weeds that have already acquired seeds for mulching, otherwise you can scatter them throughout the garden with your own hands.
Conclusion
There is nothing superfluous in nature.Weeds have the same right to exist as cultivated species. And maintaining a balance between the number of different plants is a human task.
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