Where Have All the Flowers Gone?

Part of me that thinks bio-dynamics is a bit weird. Part of me also thinks there might be something in it after all. I seem to be vacillating between the two poles right now. One biodynamic notion that makes me prick up my ears is the semi homeopathic approach to weed control. Not all weeds are bad; nettles are an excellent fertilizer and dandelions are useful as a compost accelerant.

Weeds are also unbelievably bloody hardy. Along with cockroaches, there is no doubt in my mind that weeds would survive a nuclear holocaust. I used a weed flame gun on a patch of dandelions on the Green Centre’s garden path about a month ago. It took me half an hour to incinerate the little bastards and dig out their charred corpses. They came back to haunt me about three weeks later, as green and tough as ever.

No matter how many times I run the razor sharp Weeding Tool of Death over the earth, green shoots spring back up again. Chemicals are just wrong on every level, so that’s a no go area for me. So, I find myself waging an almost daily war against weeds with the sneaking suspicion that there must be an easier way of doing this. I sat down and thought about it for a bit, reasoning that weeds are tough, adaptable and airborne, rather like viruses.

Interestingly enough, that’s exactly how the biodynamic bunch views them. This is what leads to the homeopathic approach, if you’re into New Age, or a vaccination viewpoint if you’re more inclined towards science. First, they believe that weeds are a sign that something is essentially wrong with the soil, just as disease indicates a fault with the body. Western medicine throws chemicals at the body – Eastern medicine figures out what happened in the first place.

If you combine the two, you treat the disease and then stop it happening again by strengthening the body through diet and lifestyle changes. Take garlic, turn orange with vitamin C, exercise more and you’ll never have a cold again, they say. Thistles like compacted soil, so it might be time for a spot of double digging. Docks favour acid soil, so adjusting the PH balance of your ground is a nice idea and your plants will probably be happier too.

But even the healthiest bodies succumb to disease and this is where vaccinations come into play. The theory is that a tiny amount of, say, the flu virus strengthens the antibodies to cope with an attack – the principle of curing like with like. Homeopathy works on the same lines, albeit in a “we waved some plants over this brandy and made it into a pill”, if you’ll pardon my cynicism.

Bio-dynamics encourages the preparation of weed concoctions either by infusion or by burning. You can dump a bunch of weeds in a bucket of water and let them steep until they produce a distilled liquid, which you then spray over the ground. Or, you can burn the weeds into a pile of fine ash, which you then sprinkle on the ground. The theory is that after a full growing season the earth becomes resistant to those particular weeds and you never have to wield a hoe again.

I’d be genuinely interested to know if anyone has ever tried these methods. Did you see any successful results? Or, maybe you just ended up with a plot full of rampant weeds. Do let me know.

Comments

[Kevin]

I let desirable native plants control weeds. I do not have a conventional lawn and dislike grass lawns. Grass is a weak defender against weeds, but many larger plants will fight to defend their turf and do a good job of keeping the weeds to a minimum. The few weeds I get (probably due to neighbors with grass lawns) blend in so you don't really notice them.

[Jrld]

Hey GG,

I have a farming uncle who tried some biodynamic techniques and failed. I wasn't there, and didn't check if he used the techniques correctly. I once worked for a guy who just pulled up the weeds and threw them back on the garden. He had wonderful crops.

I'm a fan of no dig gardens, where you almost tuck-in your plants to bed. With this particular approach, merely turning over or building up the straw mulch over them uses weeds for biomass. It wont eradicate, but it's so easy.

And there is no digging. Well, not much.

[K.]

The whole basis for what friable and nutritious we find on earth is weeds. Without that hardy organic ground cover you'd have washed out deserts. It's like a living skin on the planet. When we remove it to plant vegetables, it damages the skin and does harm to the soil. This is the reason we plant cover crops, to let the earth recover after vegetable farming.

That's not to say I like weeds. I don't. We have this thing here called "bob" that some idiot planted and now it rages out of control. It adapts its form to match the microclimate and land. You might think aliens designed it to terraform barren planets.

[Hellbound Alleee]

I think of weeds not as strong little things that deserve to be there, but plants that have no business there; aliens like Kudzu or Caine Toads. They were once native to somewhere, but I know it's not where I live.

Disturbed soil is not damaged. What use would worms be, after all?

The no-dig method (lasagna gardening) has been very successful for weed reduction. Constant mulching, smothering of weeds at the end of the season: that seems to do the trick. And not just an inch of mulching. I mean three layers each time. Green, peatmoss, brown, peatmoss.

At the end of the season, a thick pad of wet newspapers (providing for the cold season plants) and the whole system on top of the thing. If it's a bed put to bed, cover that up with black plastic and let it cook.

[Jrld]

Yeah. Lasagna. Here in 'straylya we dig the name that implies less work.

My lasagna garden was so cosy and warm in 'winter' I had field mushrooms poking through my bok-choi. Mmm. Good combo. Pity they were poisonous... Actually- I think the mushrms caused the heat with their respiration.

If I poked a spoon into the straw-bordering, wiped it off and held it to my cheek- it almost burned.

Putting the bed to bed is great. It also helps kill root-diseases in case you can't rotate your patch as much as you'd like.

I've also met highly efficient gardeners use tumble-composers to heat their soil, keeping weeds out.

[Jrld]

who used...

I've think I eated two many field mushrooms.

[Larry In Seattle]

"You can dump a bunch of weeds in a bucket of water and let them steep until they produce a distilled liquid, which you then spray over the ground. Or, you can burn the weeds into a pile of fine ash, which you then sprinkle on the ground. The theory is that after a full growing season the earth becomes resistant to those particular weeds and you never have to wield a hoe again....."

Wiccans have been doing that for a LONG time.......

[Margaret]

I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don't know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.

Margaret

http://howtomakecompost.info

[Listener Bronwyn C.]

I've concluded that "weeds" are just plants that are growing where you'd rather they didn't grow. Our yard is heavy, acidic clay in full shade. We can't grow flowers or vegetables, but we are overgrown with all sorts of plants. I leave the ones I think are interesting (including some really amazing-looking mushrooms, which I know aren't technically plants) and pull up the ones I don't like or that seem super-invasive. We have been pulling up the few tufts of grass in the front in hopes that moss will take over and make a pretty green cushion.
Thanks for yr. posts, GG--I enjoy 'em.

[thé]

Nice, provocative post,
Very interesting Blog. Hope it will always be alive!