Practical Weed Control

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It is true that we should eliminate weeds from our cultivated grounds. But we should also understand why we do it and what we do. Nature has a reason for allowing weeds to grow where we do not want them. If this reason becomes clear to us we have learned from Nature how to deprive weeds of their "weedy" character, that is, how to exclude them from cultivated land or rather how to improve our methods of cultivation, so that we are no more troubled by weeds. However, there is one big handicap: even if the individual tries his best on his acre, there is often an abandoned place, a waste lot, a swamp, a wild area nearby which spoils your land by windblown seed, by seed carried by birds or otherwise transported, notwithstanding all your best intentions. Why now, after the War is won, not spend a tiny fraction of the war expense or reconversion expenses in order to start a nation-wide combat against weeds and insect pests. Only that could help large-scale operations. That would be a valuable and productive unemployment service to the country. I am only afraid politicians would not like the idea for there is no glory in it, only the gratefulness of the farmer and gardener and he has learned to be content with whatever he gets anyway.

It seems a rather bizarre notion to even think about eliminating certain plants from the face of the earth. This was the same time we were trying to eliminate mosquitoes with DDT, so why not plant pests as well? Dr. Pfeiffer really knew better. I think it was just the war that got him off track. There is some good information in his booklet. My copy is a 1976 reprint by the Bio-Dynamic Farming and Gardening Association of Springfield, Illinois.

The more you know about plants, the more ridiculous is the notion of getting rid of any plant that sometimes acts as a weed. Some plants produce seeds that will germinate in different years. That gives the plant a better chance of survival. If the seeds germinating in the first year end up dying from a drought, for example, there will be seeds to sprout the next year and the next, thereby improving the odds of the plant's survival. Many plant seeds stay viable for years in the ground until conditions are right. We aid this process when we turn the soil. We bury the seeds below the level at which they can germinate. Some seeds buried like this can stay viable for as long as 50 years. Imagine the frustration of someone ridding the world of some plant only to have it reappear some time later when someone builds a new road or tills an abandoned field.

More to the point, we shouldn't even want to get rid of any plant. So-called weeds are tremendously valuable even when they are growing in your garden.

Let's start with that scourge of the suburban lawn, the dandelion. First, dandelions are good food. My grandmother got more excited over dandelion greens than anyone else I have known, but they really are good eating. They are especially good early in the spring if you are trying to be vegetable self-sufficient and have been eating mostly potatoes, winter squash, and turnips for the previous month. After a northern winter with few greens, even dandelion greens taste good to me. I like them with vinegar. When you eat them there can be no doubt that they are good for you. That strong flavor is a nutritious blend of protein, calcium, phosphorus, iron, riboflavin, niacin, and vitamins A and C and B1. The young leaves can be cooked or used in salads. The young flower buds can be boiled for a few minutes and served with butter or oil and vinegar. The flowers can be made into wine and the roots into tea. Any questions? The Weed Cookbook by Adrienne Crowhurst (Lancer Books, 1972) has some good answers.

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