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Life on two acres of arid dirt, on the edge of the Australian outback.

Wednesday, August 19, 2020

beneficial weeds

As you know I live in an arid area of Australia {if we are lucky we get an average rainfall of 9 inches}, so this means there is not a lot of organic matter available for using in my wannabe permaculture garden. I use whatever leaves, sawdust, straw etc I can round up, but these can be scarce so I have had to come up with other methods for building the soil.

One of those methods is using common weeds to my advantage. Now weeds can be a real problem for some people and get out of control really quick. But for me they are beneficial and today I will tell you about some of the ways I use them.

Weed tea...soak weeds in water, I mostly use stinging nettles for this but other weeds also go in there. Be warned, this stinks really bad!! When using, water down to 1 to 10 litre ratio.


Believe it or not there is a purpose for weeds. They promote biodiversity. Weeds are natural and they are designed to prevent soil erosion, by filling gaps. They indicate soil conditions like acidity or alkalinity. Their roots break through hard soil to break up the ground. They provide nitrogen to the soil. Most weeds are herbs and can be of medicinal use, but watch out for the poisonous ones. Weeds provide wildlife with habitat, and their flowers are loved by pollinators like bees and butterflies. Weeds attract more insects which in turn attracts more birds. Decaying weeds provide much needed microorganisms to the soil. Amazing hey?


Share your weeds with the chooks. There is so much goodness in that greenery and they will love it, and the yolks will be a nice golden yellow...


Other than liquid manure, I dry these nettles to use for herbal tea. Some of the health benefits can be found here.


A bit hard to see, but I left a few weeds lying here a while back, and when I moved them today I noticed how it was breaking down and keeping the soil moist.


In the garden beds, I pull the weeds when they are small and just leave them sitting on top of the soil. As they break down, they add vital nutrients back into the soil.




I use the weeds for mulching around the fruit trees. This is a game changer. Using nature as it is intended. As I said before I don't have access to a lot of organic matter so this is a solution for me.


I also add weeds to the compost bins. This is a new to me tumble bin, a friend thought I would make good use of it.


Here are some older weeds that I have laid around under the fruit trees, they are slowly breaking down and adding goodness to the soil beneath as well as providing a cover to keep moisture in.



This weed {not sure what it is called} is a ground cover and similar to an ice-plant.  I presume that it is one of the different varieties around here. As I have said in previous posts, I don't pull this one out because I use it for a living mulch to keep moisture in to benefit the fruit trees. The other reason is for the bees, they love the tiny flower it produces. If you happen to come and see my orchard, you may think I am lazy because I don't pull out the weeds to keep this area tidy.  There is method in my madness lol!





I am undecided whether to leave this same weed grow in the veggie patch. I have left it in the ground for now to see how it goes. I can always pull it out if it doesn't work out. I am thinking I could use it like I do around the fruit trees as a cover mulch to keep the soil cooler in summer. If the ground is cooler the veggies in the barrels will benefit.


There is another reason for leaving this weed. Can you see the sleepy lizard {shingleback}? It proves to be a good hiding spot from humans. Providing habitat for wildlife.


The pathways are looking tidier in the veggie patch now I have relocated the weeds.





For more information about weeds, I recommend this little book. It is very popular in the permaculture world, and is a wealth of information.



What about you? Do you use your weeds for the good of the garden? I would love to hear.

My goal is to eventually create a forest floor using organic matter to build soil. I don't know if I will achieve this, but I will definitely be trying my best.

See you all soon,
xTania

17 comments:

  1. Tania one year I decided to leave a little patch of scurvy weed (Commelina cyeania) grow in my ornamental garden because I think its blue flower is really pretty and it is a native ground cover though I don't think it is indigenous to this area. It spread right through my garden and started to overtake my plants so I had to remove it. The leaves are edible and were eaten by the early settlers to alleviate scurvy. I haven't eaten it myself though.

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    1. Thank you for this information Sherri. I will research the scurvy weed as I have not heard of it.

      Have a great day,
      xTania

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  2. A very informative post Tania - I really enjoyed reading how you repurpose all your weeks. Like you, I often pull the smaller ones & then just leave them lying on the top of the garden too. I burn quite alot of my garden rubbish so I get to use the potash back into some of the garden from this. Have a great day my friend xx

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    1. Hi Julie,

      That is a good idea to burn the garden rubbish and put back into the garden. I am not sure about our soil here and how it would affect it. I will do some research about that, not that I have that many weeds that I get to burn the excess lol. I am now picturing a forest after fire and how it comes back new and fresh after rain. There might be something in this :)

      A quick google search has brought up the answer of potash being good for alkaline soil but not acid. Will test my soil again later today but I think it is very alkaline. If this is the case then it is a good idea to burn and put back.

      Thank you Julie. Wishing you a wonderful day!
      xTania

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  3. Good post, Tania. I am learning too about the beneficial role of weeds. I am experimenting with ground covers under my fruit trees too.

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    1. I think we have been led astray with information about weeds. The reading I have done suggests the opposite to what I previously believed and that was that weeds are bad. I think it makes more sense to use them for the good of the garden rather than destroying them with pesticides!! Neat and tidy is not always the best thing for the environment.

      I am enjoying reading through the posts on your blog, they are very informative. Thank you for sharing your wisdom.

      Have a lovely day,
      xTania

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  4. I just love your blog! You really inspire me to do so much. I wanted you to know that the plant you have (that is similar to ice plant) is something we call Red Apple. Quick story- a friend wanted ice plant as a ground cover but the store was out. So she planted Red Apple. Years later, when a big fire came (San Diego mountain area) her house was the only one the firemen protected because ice plant burns and Red Apple doesn't! It also helped that she kept her yard debris cleaned up, but that plant saved her home.

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    1. Hello there!

      Thank you for commenting about the ice plant. I agree that mine is very similar to the red apple ice-plant except for the flower, it is pale yellow/white. My mum has the red apple ice-plant growing, so I might get some from her and grow that too! Very interesting about how the different plants react to fire. So my fruit trees should be protected should a fire go through :)

      Have a great day!
      xtania

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    2. Hi Tania! Yes, I noticed the little white flowers in your photo, but figured it was the same thing. We only get the red. Yes, it is interesting to note that ice plants will burn. Your place is beautiful and you do so many wonderful things. I read blogs every day but have never followed someone. So you are the first! You are so cool to do all the things that you do. Take care, and thanks for replying.

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    3. I think you are right that the plant I have here is very similar to the red flowered ice-plant, so probably very closely related.

      Thank you for your kind words, and welcome to my world.

      XTania

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  5. Good job on using everything you have
    We give our weeds to the cow and sheep.
    It’s nothing they don’t have in the paddock but you would think we were giving them icecream and lollies lol

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    1. Haha I can just imagine Angela. The chooks are the same when we throw them some weeds. They roam around the yard all day, but still get excited!

      xTania

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  6. Being in the middle of the US in a totally different climate from yours, we do use our weeds. But I'm careful what I leave on top of the soil as some will reroot and not die. More likely I mulch with spoiled hay and put the pulled weeds on top of that. Then the sun can dry them out and they won't reroot.

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    1. Yes Kay, a couple of the weeds I have pulled did regrow with the roots, but depending upon the weather and the weed usually I just pull them out again. We live in a very dry arid area {desert like} so the amount of weeds are a lot less than others who receive regular rain. Our region only receives about 9 inches per year if we are lucky.

      I do mulch with straw also.

      xTania

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  7. I was inspired by Peter Andrews (Natural Sequence Farming) and various Permaculture teachers to consider weeds in a completely different way. Peter especially thought it financial suicide for farmers to burn their weeds and spend money poisoning them, just to bring in other inputs to improve their soils. He said if the weeds are growing there, the soils needs it. That's what you should be chopping back into your soil. Nature fixes what is broken in nature. It's us humans who need to get on board that particular sequence, when it happens.

    That weed the blue-tongue is hiding under, is Warrigal Greens I believe. It grows rampantly here, when the rain arrives. If it's in the way, I'll pull it and use as a surface mulch to cover the soil. If it's not in the way, I let it grow as a green mulch, near whatever root-zone of another plant it's protecting. But boy, you really had a lot of weeds to haul and put to good use though! Chicken and mulch heaven.

    As for your forest floor approach, I've noticed in climates like ours, where we can get exceedingly long dry periods, the benefits of such an approach doesn't really kick-in, until the rain coincides with the warming temperatures. It doesn't tend to break down and create the mycorrhizal fungi necessary to benefit living plants. It generally needs a reliable water supply, with heat, to create the right conditions. It doesn't mean you can't duplicate the same conditions, if you have the additional water. But in arid climates like ours on the larger scale, we're best having a succulent ground-cover, which can draw up nutrients from the soil and attract insects to fertilise the plants they're growing under.

    I'm personally still experimenting with this strategy in my garden. I've found a dual approach helps. Mulch were you have additional water to create the mycorrhizal fungi, and grow succulent ground-covers where you don't. This is something I've been meaning to write about in arid gardening techniques, I've found work. Anyway, really great post and weeds are something we should be utilising like nature does. As Geoff Lawton is known for saying, the kind of weed growing, is your best indicator for soil health.

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  8. What a wealth of information you have shared Chris. Thank you so much, I always learn so much from you.

    You are right about the forest floor because it is so dry here. Letting the green mulch grow under the fruit trees seems to be the way to go. The fruit trees seem to be doing better with it growing around the base. Once it dies back, I just leave it there and the new growth grows through to create more cover. It doesn't look well kept out there and I need to watch for snakes and critters when go out there. Lately the kangaroos have been coming in when its hot to drink water and lay in the cool shade of the trees and have flattened the ground cover. I really don't mind as I love having wildlife here.

    I love watching and listening to Geoff Lawton, he is very down to earth and I have learned a lot from him. I especially enjoy his greening the desert series. If only I had the resources to replicate what he has done, but I do what I can. I get disheartened when the heat destroys the plants, but this year the heat has not been that bad. Whether January will be a scorcher, we will have to wait and see.

    Take care Chris,

    xTania

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    1. It's great to share our experiences Tania, because both our climates have an arid context, which tax our growing systems. I love to see you having wins at home, and reading how you managed it too. We just have to keep plugging away, to see what works and what doesn't. Re: overgrown areas, snakes etc, we always make sure the access paths are kept clear. So we know at least those areas are safe. But it's nice when the weather cools again, so we don't have to worry about snakes. ;)

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