Weeds Are Free Compost

Every year I allow the side yard to turn into a jungle of weeds! I do this for a few reasons: they provide erosion control to my otherwise bare soil, they help soak up rain in big storms, and they serve as a great nutrient source for my compost! If you compost pile is hot you have nothing to worry about when it comes to spreading seeds around as they will be cooked and rendered dead.

[yeet]

It's also good for biodiversity! Noticed that my brassicas had less pest problems when I let the "weeds" take over the grass. (Probably due to ground beetles). Also saw more bees than I did the seven years before I started planting native plants

[janemyfoodandflowers]

I usually let the weed die from dehydration under the sun first before I used them for compost material because some weed can grow from any cuttings.

[BlendAndConquer]

I think it’s worth noting to do this BEFORE the weeds go to seed. Unless you want to grow weeds in a bed haha.

[flumyxx]

Been doing this for years. We had absolutely dead sand where I live and over a few years we turned it into a beautiful rich loam 🥰

[williamevans]

looks like lots of mallow and chickweed- both edible cooked greens. Same with stinging nettle- wear gloves, though!

[scrungus]

Just plant an annual cover crop. You don’t have to sow anything - just scatter some seeds. Weeds can be very problematic for the health of your soil for the long term because of *allelopathy.* I’m assuming you want to rotate some stuff eventually to give the soil a break. Happy to talk about it more if you’re curious.

[poppyasher]

This only works if all your weeds are native species. Learned this the hard way by letting the lawn go "natural" then discovering I'd let an invasive plant run amok and choke out the grass.

[rennaemeow]

You might want to identify those weeds. I actually harvest those also. That common mallow is dried as a medicinal tea, leaf and root.... beneficial for mucous membranes from head to bottom. The peas on them are delicious. The leaves are used to make Malva soup. The root and peas can be used to actually make marshmallow... but it's used to drink with tea in the cold season. I press one of the little pressed -dried 🌺 flower onto the marshmallow piece because it makes it beautiful. This is all from the same weed plant. Kids can use a tea towel to breathe the steam off their tea, as it cools enough to drink, they can sip it while enjoying their marshmallow. Nice treatment if they begin to feel stuffy or sore throat begins. Take good care and learn your weeds. Wild gifts.

[robyndudley]

I bury weeds with food scraps, leaves and recyclables in my garden. They bring in lots of worms and compost in place.

[allaboutbeauty]

These are amazingly tasty and healthy leaves, they are loaded with nutrients and antibiotics, you can soak it in hot water and thd tea clears the skin. It hurts me to see them composed😅try to cook them with onions snd olive oil, and top them with lemon juice😋🥰

[littlebird]

If you do this make sure you get it hot! Unfortunately some of those weeds are hardy and can take over your garden. Only sufficient amounts of heat and time (sometimes up to a few years!) can kill the seeds.

If you don’t mind it doesn’t matter, but if you’re doing raised beds you can transplant a lot of weeds.

[varikstheloyal]

Love seeing this guy's shorts randomly whenever I binge on break, helped me grow countless plants!

[AGMundy]

In medieval times weeds were just left to grow as they provided nutrition as well - they were a free crop and those that were not eaten by humans went to the pigs as fodder

[wokewar]

We just did this this year. We let our greenhouse grow wild with weeds after we harvested, then before we went to plant for new harvest, we tilled all the weeds in the same soil from last year. Everything on our soil tester tested amazing. And our plants are flourishing like crazy!

[resurrectionsunday]

I’m a city girl with no green thumb. When I was little my mom made a ginormous compost bin out of corrugated metal . Triangle shaped wide at the top, but the bottom was slightly open so the processed material fell through the bottom when we tossed the salad so to speak. Then we used the stuff that dropped out on the garden.

[blacktulip]

I'm Moroccan and we usually get excited when they grow ... Cause we get to eat them 😋😂.

[Gator-]

A lot of those "weeds" are edibles and medicinals also.

[ooee]

compost isn't about feeding your garden, it's adding life to the soil

[emac]

Me too. But also, those specific weeds make a tasty nutrient dense snack for us gardners! (Their little buds before flowering!) Look into them...they are probably more nutritious than some of the veggies we cultivate!

[KyleRevives]

Love it and is a win win, more material for the garden and less for the weeds to use and grow 🙌 Made almost 40 tons of compost this summer using weeds from ditched and fallen leaves