Most broadleaf weeds are good for the soil, not too difficult to control, and many are excellent eating greens.

Grasses are much more of a problem, IME.

anyone willing to post specific names and/or pics of the "GOOD WEEDS" my back would appreciate NOT having to bend over endlessly to pull them all if they are indeed a non issue.

One of them is the good ole' time enemy, the dandelion. I doubt you need a picture.

To quote from the article:

"So if you have an idle garden area that's coming up in weeds, consider them a free cover crop. True, if the invader is toxic (like poison ivy), a tough grass (like Johnson grass) or a perennial that spreads by underground runners (like sheep sorrel), you will want to root it out. But why not let nonspreading annuals like spurges, purslane, lamb's-quarters, chickweed and ragweed anchor that fallow ground?"

Some pictures are:

{{gwi:36753}}

The one above is spurges.

{{gwi:36754}}

Purslane is the one above.

{{gwi:36755}}

Lambs' quarters above.

{{gwi:36756}}

Chickweed above.

{{gwi:36757}}

And Ragweed.

It may save my back with the purslane and chickweed. I guess just keep them short. I'm pulling everything accept clover, so that's my ground cover and there is a lot of it growing wild, the big giant clover and pretty little ones too. If the rain is scarce, I'll let a dandelion every 10 feet grow, I feed the leaves to my guinea pig anyways when I find them. He eats the flowers too, so if I pick the flower before it heads up to the fluffy seeding stage, it can't be too invasive.

They say they bring nutrients up with them banked down up to 12 feet.

That's the ticket. Let em be the cover crops, pull them when they are in the way and let them be mulch.

Here's a link to a good paper. I learned alot of good stuff.

http://www.journeytoforever.org/farm_library/weeds/WeedsToC.html

If you like the article, you need to check out the rest of the library. It's amazing how much of it was written before 1950.

I let some nice volunteers grow for a while...such as Batchler's Buttons, clover, catnip, Shirley poppies, larkspur, oil seed sunflowers,and a few giant amaranth that I strip the lower leaves on. Oh, but I sure don't let those purslanes go much...they used to be my worst weed.

Generally you want a cover crop to be something that is easily killed by mowing or hoeing. Dandelions are not. I do let some weeds grow as a compost crop (outside the garden), favoring big ones like milk thistle and nitrogen fixers like vetch and clover the most.

Beets and chard punch down roots as deep as 12 feet, and being biennial they are much less of a weed-seed concern.

No no no no no good weeds...

2 seasons ago the ragweed was taller than I - and I'm not a midget.. Much.

I've read some of the article and found pigweed, amaranthus, was helpful to potatoes. I bought red and green types of amaranthus and will plant them around my potato bins to see if they grow better, as companion plants.

I'm already letting my clover go, picking my crab grass a little each day, but still sprouts are covering my garden area. Every day I pick a little here and there, not much, but every day I look across and see green everywhere accept the bald spots where nothing grew from the actual crop.

One year I'll get brave and put one weed next to each plant. I almost did with yellowdock, but I changed my mind and saved them for winter cropping for this year. I guess I won't know until I try. Most of the things people consider weeds, sunflower, bachelor buttons, poppies, etc., those are flowers people buy.

Well, it's something to think about anyways. I know when I plant my corn, to plant amaranthus with it, or was it ragweed? I can't remember, I'll have to read it over again. I only read 2 or 3 chapters and looked over a few others.

That was a great read and very useful. If you trimmed the weeds, kept them neat looking, would anyone be able to tell the difference? It might be hard to hide a dandelion, but any of the rest would undetectable.

scarletdaisies,

never let pigweed go to seed! Harvest it just before it flowers.

((So if you have an idle garden area that's coming up in weeds, consider them a free cover crop. True, if the invader is toxic (like poison ivy), a tough grass (like Johnson grass) or a perennial that spreads by underground runners (like sheep sorrel), you will want to root it out. But why not let nonspreading annuals like spurges, purslane, lamb's-quarters, chickweed and ragweed anchor that fallow ground?"))

Laugh at me people, I'm growing chickweed and purslane from pricey organic seeds I purchased, lol. Also been trying to get some purple lambsquarters going - not much luck, lol!

I'm a weed eater!

I bought bloodroot and my father laughed at me, so did my brother. I also bought the yellowdock, but some seeds I did want I found are already growing in my yard. A few wild licorice plants are growing, more than a few, but I was trying to get it started from seed. Some of my seeds are not growing at all, but it was worth a try.

I'm going to plant some popcorn and have some ragweed already seeding in a corner of my yard. I may try it, but since I bought the amaranth seeds, they need to go out anyways. They will compliment the potatoes and corn.

It's funny the most moist parts of the yard are the ones covered in weeds, never needing water, dirt black like out of a fresh store bought bag. I know where to dig for my houseplants when I want them repotted.