When it comes to vegetable gardening, it’s hard to think of any let alone 5 reasons to love weeds! However, did you know that many weeds are actually edible, beautiful and even beneficial to your garden?
What is a weed? After all, plants are plants, right? I think most people would agree that weeds are considered to be plants that self sow themselves into our gardens, often in places we don’t want them to be. They multiply fast and as gardeners, it can often feel like we are losing the battle with them!
There are so many flowers you can plant that are beneficial to your allotment garden, but have you ever thought about the benefits of all those flowering weeds?
Maybe, if we had some reasons to love weeds, we would begin to see them differently and in turn make our gardening life a little easier? So lets explore all the reasons to love weeds and see if we can flip our perspective!
5 REASONS TO LOVE WEEDS
- Weeds are good for insects
Lots of weeds that spring up in my own back garden, such as dandelions and daisies, are fantastic for pollinators. Not only is this because they are native to our climate, but because sometimes they are some of the only flowering plants in the garden!
Daisies and buttercups can be some of the most beautiful flowers in nature. A field of daisies is incredibly beautiful and usually buzzing with pollinators all looking for some food. Weeds also serve as a vital habitat for insects who rely on the coverage for shelter.
And of course, the more pollinators attracted into our gardens through weeds, the more benefit our crops get!
- Weeds can help our soil
Weeds can be important agents of soil conservation. The roots of some weeds can stabilise erodible soil and provide valuable channels for water and air in the soil. Some weeds also produce carbon which can help with water retention and further increase nutrient levels and organic matter in the soil.
A lot of weeds have very deep root systems and take nutrients from depths that our crops wouldn’t be able to reach by themselves. They can bring these vital nutrients nearer to the surface of the soil where our crops can reap the benefits!
- You can eat them!
Oh yes, there are many weeds that serve very much as crops to us humans. Stinging nettles make a fantastic tea which has many proven health benefits such as soothing allergies and skin irritations, relieving pain and even keeping our blood sugar in check!
I’m also going to add mint in here as it works in the same way as a common garden weed in the way it spreads itself around. Mint is a weed loved herb, but can be considered a weed too. So perhaps we already know a reason to love weeds!
- They are beautiful
Some weeds are simply stunning, and if you can learn to love them then you are looking at some of the most robust, perfectly adapted and totally free plants for your garden.
I have some green alkanet growing in the back of my garden, which I’ve always considered a weed. This year, I left it to flower away and not only have the bees been happy, I have too! It’s such a beautiful plant, so architectural and practically bursting with gorgeous blue-purple flowers that last for weeks over the spring months.
- Some weeds repel pests
Oh yes, some weeds work in our favour in the vegetable garden to deter pests. Wild garlic, stinging nettles and lemon grass may all help to keep those little pests away from your crops.
Of course, lots of insects love weeds too and therefore by leaving them alone you could be saving hundreds if not thousands of insects lives who otherwise may not be able to find the food and shelter they need.
NOT ALL WEEDS ARE FRIENDLY
When you are growing your own vegetables, you need to understand the weeds that may actually cause your crops more harm than good. Bindweed likes to wrap itself around stronger plants to reach the sunlight, draining nutrients from them until they eventually kill them.
Couch grass is another such weed you could do without in the vegetable garden. The network of rhizomes become entangled in clumps of herbaceous perennials and among shrubs and fruit bushes causing great problems, as they are difficult to remove.
If you can find a reason to love at least some of your garden weeds, I think you might find gardening a whole different ball game! No longer will the garden feel like walking into a battle field but instead, you might be able to appreciate all the plants that are growing strong and healthily instead. Next time to see, particularly a flowering weed, consider letting it live a little longer. See how many pollinators it attracts and whether it’s causing a direct problem to any neighbouring crops. If it’s not, maybe it’s time to consider a few reasons to love weeds!
Happy gardening!
