When I posted an awesome tour of my old permaculture teacher's urban allotment, I was reminded of his seemingly chaotic yet decidedly sensible approach to weeding. Rather than seeking to eradicate weeds from his site—an objective that was at best incredibly labor or chemical intensive, if not downright impossible—he instead chose to encourage weeds that had some beneficial properties. Those might be wild edibles, or they may be nitrogen fixers, or plants with particular benefits in terms of biodiversity. The idea, then, was to edit rather than control—and to encourage a community of plants that was both productive and more-or-less self sustaining.
This video is a classic example of that approach. By observing her fields and the life-cycles of both the main farm crops, and the weeds that inevitably accompany them, Helen Atthowe of Veganic Permaculture is able to identify penny cress as a plant that does not compete with her main crops, and also attracts beneficial insects. So while she weeds selectively and takes out plants that cause more disruption, she lets penny cress thrive and spread—in the hope that it will crowd out some of the competition and ultimately reduce the need for weeding or other interventions.
I knew there was a raeson that I am so remiss in weeding the garden. I knew I wanted the purslane growing because of my salads but now I have a great reason to let more of those weeds grow on and on and on...
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