Read Your Weeds: What They Say About Your Soil

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Curly Dock Plantain Others

Ever wonder why you have so many of the same types of weeds in certain areas of your garden?

Whether it is Dandelion, Curly Dock, Plantain or Mullein, your weeds are trying to tell you something about your soil.  You can learn to read your soil condition just by observing the weeds that grow best.

For example, my garden area tends to get soggy during the spring rains with my heavy clay soil.  Curly Dock just thrives in these conditions.  I have pulled dock out with roots over a foot long and two inches thick.

Diana Barker details a comprehensive list of weed categories and what they tell you about your soil.  As Diana says,

“Simply by observing the most prevalent weeds that are growing in a specific area, they can indicate if the soil is acidic or alkaline, whether the soil is a healthy, balanced soil, or if it’s depleted.”

So take a lesson from Diana, and see what your weeds are showing you.  With this information in hand, you can plan what to grow in these areas as you work to improve your soil, especially with the Back to Eden gardening method.

Read Diana’s full article at homestead.org…

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