Why get rid of weeds

Why get rid of weeds. All these garden books say to get rid of weeds. I like weeds. Smoking weeds is a real trip, and that stuff costs lots of money, so why rip the free ones out of the garden.

Reply to
stoner008
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Wow, dude, awesome, you've progressed from posting inane comments on Myspace to making an idiot of yourself on Usenet. What's next, bro, spraypainting your wisdom on concrete walls?

Reply to
kaspian

The original poster will never even see the follow up comments, so why bother?

Reply to
Snooze

If you think the Weed Twister has something to do with the narcotic "weed", as many people most likely do, you're wrong!

If you wish to remove that plant by its roots, however, this is one tool that can do it!

Also "weed poetry" as published on the Ergonica website, has nothing to do with that specific species.

Many weeds deserve an appeal to your forgiveness. Is it rude to be born?

Reply to
raycruzer

To warp this thread around to something half way serious, I have often wondered if I am wasting my time pulling and hoeing the weed Purslane. It only gets several inches tall and forms a dense carpet that would probably exclude other taller weeds. If I keep letting it go to seed, I think it would soon be the only surviving weed in the whole garden. Maybe it wouldn't be good with some plants like carrots or spinach but I can't think it would compete much with corn or cabbage. This thought came to me when I was really tired of weeding last summer and it's probably more an indication of laziness than it is a good idea.

Steve PS don't tell me to eat the stuff. I know it's edible but it tastes bad raw and I will not likely ever bother to try it cooked.

Reply to
Steve

Weeds are only a plant that grows somewhere you don't want it to. However, purslane from my experience seems to prefer acidic soil. So, if you don't want to weed it, and don't want to eat it but can think of some plants that like a more alkaline condition,then you have your answer, Use lime/dolomite whenever you find purslane getting in your way. Either that or get some ducks onto the job. They love the stuff. My pet hate (weed)are grasses that the locals here in Tasmania call twitch. Onion twitch and rope twitch are my biggest problem as if left alone they eventually strangle everything else . I've been hand weeding the stuff now, 7 days a week for 3 years but it still comes back. Time to give in and crack out the 'Feusilade' a highly expensive & toxic agricultural pesticide. As I'm getting too old for all that hand weeding it's now a choice between poisoning the stuff or getting a smaller more managable property. As this place is otherwise heaven on earth I'm going to swallow my organic scruples and get nasty with the twitch. That other kind of 'weed' has a number of agriculural uses, apart from the psychoactive one. In Australia it's our biggest cash crop, even though illegal. In my mid 60's I still enjoy the odd special occassion toke.

Reply to
mdhjwh

One serious reason to weed is that most weeds transpire more water than most cultivated plants. That's possibly ok when soil moisture is abundant, not so good when water is a limiting growth factor.

In addition, most cultivated plant growth is limited by either available light for photosynthesis (tall weed problems here), or a shortage of one or more minerals. If the weeds are tying up the mineral needed, the crop isn't going to produce like it could.

There are somw "weeds" that are beneficial - for instance, the mosquito fern, Azolla, has N fixing bacteria; this can benefit unfertilized paddy rice. But that's not true of most weedy species.

Speaking of weeds, if you'd like a nice tour of weed biology, pick up a copy of WC Muenscher's book Weeds, preferably an early edition. Ignore any and all references to chemical control -- most that were used then are too toxic to even consider now -- but read about the cultural controls that were used before we had Roundup and similar...

They still work well if we can get people to use them...

Kay

Reply to
Kay Lancaster

I don't weed much, except in the flowerbeds right in front of my house. I like them to be neat.

Chickweed takes over the paths in my veg garden. I toss covers over the veggies and let my hens eat the chickweed, then throw the hens back out to range around the yard. (My veggies are fenced with 8' tall fishnet, to keep the moose out.)

We have wild camomile growing all over the yard. It's a nice groundcover. The hens like it. I harvest some to dry for winter use. I harvest about 8 of the weeds that grow in my yard, for winter use, for medicinal purposes. (Not stuff I've planted; the stuff that grows naturally here.)

There are people who say that it's healthy to let weeds grow in your yard. The weeds run tap roots down and bring minerals up to the surface. When they die back in the winter, those minerals get deposited.

I've heard that Native Americans aren't so fussy about weeds. They know that weeds are okay. The Creator wouldn't have put them in our gardens if they were all bad. (?)

Jan

Reply to
Jan Flora

about how Native Americans lived. To put to rest the relevance of this myth consider this. Native Americans, before Europeans arrived with their collection of botanical delinquents, didn't have to cope with introduced weeds.

'The balance is undone' Joni Mitchell.

Reply to
mdhjwh

Maybe you don't like the taste of it, but I think purslane makes an excellent salad. I chop up the stems and leaves, maybe some onion, add oil and vinegar. Unlike many salads, it improves with a little age. ____________ John Henry Wheeler Washington, DC USDA Zone 7

Reply to
Compostman

Any vegetation growing where it is not wanted, is a weed. That is the definition. I have to say I regard twich or couch grass as the worst thing I have as I have always had clay soils and it is a biatch to pull ot from that. And when pulled, you only need a few cells left behind and it regenerates.

The thing with that is that it has large doses of the hormone used on cuttings. It is chock full of the vegetable worlds own version of testosterone.

As for puslane. I had heard of it and though it was called pursilane. This is what the web has to say on it:

Purslane an heat-tolerant, drought-tolerant flower which ... blooms from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The smaller blooming "weedy" cousin of the cultivated Dolly Parton [picture here:

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] have suddenly become the belles of the garden among creative chefs and nutritionists.

Purslane is acclaimed for .. its cooking possibilities--its tinker-toy eye appeal, crisp texture and lightly tangy taste--and the scientific discovery of its potentially healthful omega-3 fatty acids.If this weren't enough, it has above average values of Vitamins A and C and provides all of these goodies with only 15 calories in a 100-gram portion.

Eaten extensively in soups and salads throughout the Mediterranean, Russians dry and can it for the winter. In Mexico it is called VERDOLAGA and is a favorite comfort food, eaten in an omelet or as a side dish, rolled in tortillas, or dropped by handfuls into soups and stews.

The human body might be able to convert into other, related kinds of omega-3 fatty acids (EPA and DHA) found in fish oils. Researchers see evidence that these substances lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels as well as make the blood less likely to form clots. But ages before this scientific finding, purslane was eaten as treatment for arthritis, inflammation and heart disease and to promote general good health.

Purslane is a succulent low-growing plant which is very tasty and crunchy. The entire plant can be used, the stems being most succulent. Purslane grows all over the world, often in disturbed soil. Purslane can be used as the main salad ingredient, lightly seasoned with diced onion, vinegar, and oil. The plant is good cooked with soups, steamed, sauteed, or pickled. Add it to omelets.

IDENTIFYING PURSLANE Purslane sprawls along the ground with its fleshy, succulent, highly branched stems. The stems are round and tinted red. The flavor of the raw stems is mild, slightly sour, and the texture is crunchy. The leaves are paddle-shaped (obovate), flat, and alternately arranged. The small flowers are yellow, sessile, and contain five two-lobbed petals. The small seed capsules produce abundant black seeds.

Reply to
Weatherlawyer

I like purslane in salad to but the high oxalic acid content of this plant should be noted. So, once a week at most.

Reply to
mdhjwh

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