The Value of Weeds E-Book

Ann Cliff

• Herausgeber: Crowood
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2017

Beschreibung

Weeds are wild plants that have survived in the face of centuries of hostility. Many gardeners who are unfamiliar with the versatility of weeds think of them as a nuisance. They can be good, bad, dangerous or beautiful. Above all, they are tough. This essential guide explores the virtues of good weeds, including how they can protect soil and add to soil fertility; act as companion plants in gardens; provide food for farm livestock; support wild life; provide herbal remedies for minor ailments; yield vegetable dyes and finally, give us weed cuisine: nutritious food and drink for free. This essential guide to exploring the virtues of good weeds is aimed at all keen gardeners who wish to make use of a long-neglected resource and is fully illustrated with 120 colour photographs.

Leseprobe

THE VALUEOF WEEDS

Ann Cliff

THE CROWOOD PRESS

First published in 2017 by

The Crowood Press Ltd

Ramsbury, Marlborough

Wiltshire SN8 2HR

www.crowood.com

This e-book first published in 2017

© Ann Cliff 2017

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978 1 78500 279 3

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

INTRODUCTION

1 COLONIZATION BY WEEDS

2 THE WILDNESS OF WEEDS

3 WEEDS IN GARDENS

4 WEEDS ON SMALL FARMS

5 WEEDS FOR WILDLIFE

6 THE CONTROL OF WEEDS

7 WEEDS FOR HEALTH

8 WEEDS AS VEGETABLE DYES

9 EATING WEEDS

10 SAFETY

FURTHER INFORMATION

INDEX

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

My thanks are due to the many people who have given me help and encouragement in putting this book together.

Peter and Irene Foster of Lime Tree Farm, my brother and sister-in-law, have generously shared their knowledge and experience of converting the farm for wildlife conservation. I’m grateful for their hospitality over many years, including cups of Irene’s hawthorn berry tea. In spite of the fact that much of my time is now spent in Australia, they keep me in touch with Lime Tree and the natural world in Yorkshire. (Irene made the weed frittata featured in the recipe chapter and it was excellent.)

Jill Askham and Martin Varley have been with me on many field trips and have provided company, equipment, transport and refreshments. On cross-country walks we have tracked down weeds, fallen into bogs, taken photographs of lovely wild flowers, and enjoyed the varied countryside of the Yorkshire Dales.

John Earnshaw read the ‘Weeds for Health’ chapter of the book and offered valuable insights into his profession: he is a scientific herbalist who likes to collect his own plant material.

Norman Bush gave me help with the chapter on dyeing, and kindly modelled his jacket creation, dyed with lichen. Norman is a craft teacher who delights in foraging for weeds. He also lent me books from his eclectic collection.

Tony and Wendy Robins provided the photograph of hand hoeing, and explained how they control weeds on their organic farm.

I am grateful to the staff at Artison craft workshop at Masham, North Yorkshire, and especially tutor Jess Wilkinson, for insights into the craft of willow weaving and her creative use of ‘weeds’.

Michael Harrison kindly supplied the photograph of duckweed.

Thanks as always to my husband Neville, for his support.

Ann Cliff

INTRODUCTION

Can you tolerate weeds? It may be an acquired skill: we have been fighting them for thousands of years and it may not be easy to give up. In conventional thinking weeds are the enemy, and sometimes this is true. However, many weeds are beneficial, even essential, and that’s what this book is about.

Weeds are rascals, sometimes villains, cheeky survivors, enjoying life wherever they can find a roothold in the earth. They are often a neglected resource in gardens and on farms – or wherever they grow. Weeds are not always the enemy of cultivation. In spite of everything we throw at them they forgive us and thrive, contributing biomass, healing the scars we inflict on the earth, and giving us food and medicine. Some of them light up our lives with beauty.

What’s the definition of a weed? The word comes from old English ‘weod’ meaning grass or herb, but it has come to mean a plant we despise.

Don’t be ashamed of your weeds – or not all of them. Only a few are a real menace, a matter for elimination, while many weeds have value. ‘Weed’ is a negative label, bestowed upon a plant because it’s been rejected by our culture. A plant’s status can vary over time and location; some of our despised weeds were once valued vegetables, and some are still cultivated in other parts of the world.