[Royal Society for the Prevention of Weeding 04 March 2014] — Because I don’t weed, I don’t have any weeds. As soon as I start weeding I see weeds everywhere. Like most gardeners I used to weed plants which are commonly considered weeds. For the past 5 years I have been studying the ideology of weed making. Last year I realised that I was not following some of the thinking I had been developing by pulling out these plants which are so fond of ‘my garden’. I noticed that not much else really wanted to grow where these weeds grew. This was not due to competition as the plants I wanted to grow had me on their side against these ‘invaders’. Season after season I watched my desirables disappear into thin year. The invaders also did not flourish. They too struggled to thrive in my garden. All the while I had been researching weeds as indicator species as well as providers of ecological services, such as, repairing damaged soils, providing nutrients, protecting the land against erosion, providing food for pollinators as well as other beneficial insects and so forth. So I decided to stop weeding and let these uninvited inhabitants do their ‘best’. I now have a beautiful garden that is ever changing. | Continue reading … | Comment |