A Problem with Weeds

[xylaria]

The allotment I got a year ago hadn't been cultivated for three years. Most of the ground had been covered with carpets so long that couch grass was growing on top. Well anyway every time I turn over new soil the dormant weed seeds germinate and coat the ground with new growth. That is not my problem, my problem is that I look at the weeds and say "ooh I can eat that!!!". The allotment looks over run to an outsider.

Take this this stuff for example, it has the rather unappetising name of nipplewort. The young seedlings taste like lettuce and the larger plants become bitter with age, but are cookable.

It is by far my most successful plant, I collect a carrier bag of the stuff every time I go, and I am get rather sick of eating it to tell the truth.

I also have plenty of Orache that I am waiting for it become big enough to eat. The main nettle patch is now past its best but I am in two minds about letting the seedlings in the beds get a little bigger before harvesting. They keep stinging me when I harvest the nipplewort so I might just hook them out. The broadleaf dock and the cleavers are about the only plants that get treated like weeds, as they aren't very nice to eat. Virtually every other plant is harvested in some way. I have even added some new wild plants, the burdock I seeded in october are now small plants, they should be ready to harvest next winter. I have sorrel that is setting seed and angelica, but the black salsify is yet to make an appearance.

I look at the other established allotments and see neat square raised beds, concrete paths, with not a single weed between the neat rows of predictable plants all in their place. There is one other allotment that sort of practice permaculture, so I am not the only heretic. I know the chairwoman has passed comment that they don't work it properly, so I am sure she pass comment when she sees my wild plants, self seeding leeks, and spuds that are packed in with mustard. Why fight nature when it tastes so nice.

 

[dwardo]

I suppose it give the slugs something else to aim for if you have a lot of "weeds" growing quite low. Looks great..

 

[locum76]

I have a slogan chalked on the wall of my office which says 'its not weeds its biodiviersity'.

 

[Iona]

My garden's like that, half "weeds" half things I've put in, equally edible and tasty (and untidy ) I live in a terrace though and do get looks from the owners of the beautiful but slightly sterile flower garden next door...

My main problem is not the weeds at all but the massive "architectural" plants that previous tennants have put in. 2 palm trees, that are very pretty but shade half the garden and suck the soil dry and other enormous shrubs that do the same. It's a small terrace with not enough light and carp soil at the best of times. Have been contemplating how feasible a "massive chainsaw accident" sounds...

 

[Toddy]

A wee accident with a copper mordant for natural dye would do the trick. Kills anything. I hate weedkillers though.........glycophosphate on a bit of the root would do in the bushes, they died of drought in this Summer, didn't they ? Have to be removed then.
Palms ? oh peel the leaves and weave things, and just keep tidying them up, tidy them into oblivion bit by bit, Dig the garden near them, cut the roots back all the time, that would let the rest of the garden get a chance too.

My garden is truthfully a jungle of vibrantly growing things I'm like Morris though, who said, "Have nothing in your home that is not beautiful or useful " and I apply it to the garden
Nettles grow next to geraniums and meadowsweet and roses. Sweet peas next to the mallows and the Lemon balm and St.John's Wort, Fuchsias under the Mugwort, and Tansy and Sage fight it out with the wild Oregano and the Comfrey. The Heartsease grows where it seeds and the Cuckoo flower and the Fat Hen pop up where the Bittercress leaves room, though the Forget me Nots are wriggling through among them just now. And I see the Bittersweet is coming up through the roses and the Honeysuckle that tangle the Rowan. Red Campiion and Lady's Mantle are overpowering the Aquilegia's for a bit but the poppies and the Foxgloves are coming through.
The Bluebells are a glorious blue backdrop under the Apple tree, now the three cornered Leek and the lesser Celandine are gone over to seed.
The ponds are the same, Typhus mimina is coming up tall and straight amongst the water cress but the leaves of the water lilies and the butyomus are starting to spread. I pulled the Dockens for dye last week and filled their spaces with Woad, Gypsywort and Greenweld.

Biodiversity is healthy, Nature hates a monoculture and attacks it with everything She has.

Chaos rules, and what can't change dies.

A garden so perfectly set in pristine sterility is a horrible thing I feel.

cheers,
M

 

[Nagual]

I like that Not tried most of what you have, other than nettles and goosegrass / cleavers. I like nettles (yet to confirm if they like me lol ) goosegrass is a bit hit and miss. I've has some that was really sweet and crisp, others that were too sour and bitter. Although that was raw, I've yet to try cooking it which I think I would do by steaming them. Not Had burdock yet, although it's on my list of 'wanna tries'

Good luck with your weeds!

 

[Iona]

A wee accident with a copper mordant for natural dye would do the trick. Kills anything. I hate weedkillers though.........glycophosphate on a bit of the root would do in the bushes, they died of drought in this Summer, didn't they ? Have to be removed then.
Palms ? oh peel the leaves and weave things, and just keep tidying them up, tidy them into oblivion bit by bit, Dig the garden near them, cut the roots back all the time, that would let the rest of the garden get a chance too.
M

Thank you Toddy! All good ideas

Weaving with the palm fronds sounds great, any ideas or links to help me out? it drops the brown ones everywhere and is just soooooo overbearing. Will be searching out some copper mordant and glycosphate too, project for the week! :You_Rock_

 

[gregorach]

I have a slogan chalked on the wall of my office which says 'its not weeds its biodiviersity'.

Yeah, but you don't have to deal with the allotment committee...

I'm taking a kind of hybrid approach - my semi-raised beds are weeded ruthlessly, but I'm not worrying too much about weeds around paths, compost bins and the like. I'm weeding the beds so hard in the belief that, provided I can stick to my no-dig approach, then one year of hard weeding should knock out most of the weed seeds near the surface and weeding should be much easier in future.

Having said that, most of the weeds popping up in my beds are no use for anything anyway. Equisetum, mostly...

What you can get away with depends a lot on both your allotment committee and the attitude of the local authority.

Oh, and copper? Nasty, nasty stuff. I'd go for glyphosate or even paraquat (is that stuff even still legal?) before using copper.

 

[Toddy]

I can imagine that allotment committees have their work cut out for them sometimes
They can never please everybody and *weeds*, well, seeding weeds, are such an emotive subject.
My weeds are trees If I don't weed them out then I wouldn't get out the door in a year or so.

I think you're right about the copper vs glycophosphate Does that not work on the horsetail too ?
I found learning to hoe effectively and comfortably was the most useful skill saves hours of backbreaking labour

atb,
M

 

[gregorach]

Glyphosate will work on equisetum, provided you break the surface first. I'm still in two minds about using it - I don't have any particularly strong objections on general principle, and as herbicides go it's usually the one to choose, but it is quite dangerous to aquatic life, and I do have a pond full of frogs and newts, which I rather like.

So I'm going with hand weeding this year (so far, anyway), and we'll see how it goes. I'm only working about a third of the plot so that I can weed it regularly and intensively...

 

[bayleaf]

Equisetum has an extemely high silica content,and,as such,is very resistant to most chemicals.Persistance,(as with most things) will pay off in time.Gardening never was,nor will be something given to haste.Keep the chemical use to an absolute minimum,and love your soil.It contains far more than worms,and the microbial life is some of the most important and least understood.

 

[xylaria]

Yeah, but you don't have to deal with the allotment committee...

I'm taking a kind of hybrid approach - my semi-raised beds are weeded ruthlessly, but I'm not worrying too much about weeds around paths, compost bins and the like. I'm weeding the beds so hard in the belief that, provided I can stick to my no-dig approach, then one year of hard weeding should knock out most of the weed seeds near the surface and weeding should be much easier in future.

Having said that, most of the weeds popping up in my beds are no use for anything anyway. Equisetum, mostly...

What you can get away with depends a lot on both your allotment committee and the attitude of the local authority.
.

The commitee is going to to be my problem. The couple that are getting into permaculture have very dense areas of managed wildness between their beds. They have said to me their biggest problem is growing more than they can eat. Their plot is about half the size of mine, it looks like only half of it is used until you notice the very healthy fruit bushes in the hedges and peas rambling over the fence

Nature doesn't leave gaps between plants, bare soil only exists in places where there is considerable lack of light or water. It is one thing to make sure one plant doesn't dominate, horsetail is awful stuff, but quite a few other wild plants are pretty useful. I don't see the point of weeding out fat hen so my spinach patch looks perfect, it is a no brainer, they taste the same. Gardeners can go to massive amounts of effort to grow plants that aren't really suited to Britain, or artificial growing conditions have to be made. Wild cabbage and kale doesn't get eaten to sticks by cabbage white, I have never seen black spot or mildew on wild roses. Wild carrot resists root fly by not growing in patches but a few feet from each other in dense grassland.

I need to make a proper door for the allotment, lettering is about the only thing I can carve alright so I think I'll put "It's not not weeds, It's biodiversity" on the door.