To weed or not to weed?!

All too often us humans think we are doing a good job by pulling out of the garden anything we regard as a “weed”. Yet, it is interesting to consider that many of these weeds have a higher purpose in the grand scheme of things and ultimately are helping to improve your soil and even our health.

Of course there are noxious and poisonous weeds that we definitely want to get rid of, however most of the time I see people spending way too much of their precious time pulling out perfectly good plants. Many of the so-called “weeds” such as dandelion, yarrow, plantain and puha were well respected and used by our ancestors throughout history. In my humble opinion it is time for a weed revival and a different perspective on these beautiful life giving plants.

When it comes to “weeds” in your own garden, consider this….

1. Weeds provide ground cover.
Unless you have something else to plant then leave it! It is helping your soil and garden health in more ways than you can imagine. Bare soil is not a good look.

2. Not all weeds are “weeds”. Halt with the pulling!
Identify said “weed”. Many of the plants that are pulled are useful plants and even good for our health. There are also many plant apps you can use or as I say in the video check out Julias Edible Weeds!

3. We have this idea about tidy gardens, tidy, tidy, straight, tidy, tidiness. Nature does not do straight lines and bare soil.
Get relaxed about weeds and the so-called “untidy” look of your garden. This is in actual fact a thriving, healthy eco-system and nature doing its best to regenerate the soil. So if you are wanting to bring more diversity into your garden, if you are wanting to live more sustainably, if you are wanting to care for the earth and contribute to it’s vitality then leave the weeds!

4. Often certain plants turn up for different almost spiritual reasons. For me, since deciding to go with cut flower gardens, I now am discovering all these random plants coming up that are great for cut flower foliage! It may also be that some random plants turn up that are going to help with your health. I.e. Nettle hehe.

I hope this vid inspires you to stop, look and listen to your garden and check out what is growing before you yank those plants out. Get in touch if you need help identifying a mystery weed.

Big love!