Table of Contents

  1. Beneficial Roles That Weeds Play
    1. Nutrient Scavenging
    2. Soil Compaction
    3. Carbon Sequestration

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"Weeds are nature's way of healing the land." -Masanobu Fukuoka

While it is the case that some very pervasive plants that grow wild may make poor garden guests, it's also true that many weeds are misunderstood and highly beneficial.

Lawn care companies who profit off pushing synthetic poisons to unsuspecting homeowners and property managers have done a great job at spreading harmful smear campaigns against any and every wild plant they can sell you a "solution" for.

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Beneficial Roles That Weeds Play

Weeds can play any number of roles in benefitting the soil and the ecosystem. Let's look at some of the common ones:

Nutrient Scavenging

Some nutrients that ar water-soluble, like calcium and phosphorus, can be washed down deep int soil subsurface layers over time - becoming difficult for plants to access.

That's where nitrient scavengers come in.

Often posessing very deep root systems (e.g.: alfalfa can have roots up to 25ft (7.6 meters) deep which can retrieve nutrients that have fallen out of reach of mer shallow-rooted plants.

Many weeds that scavenge nutrients have a way of showing up in places where the soil needs the water-soluble nutrients and deep pockets of elements to be brought up to the surface.

Soil Compaction

When soils become compacted, it can be difficult for plant roots to penetrate deep enough to become established and access the nutrients they need to survive.

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That's where weeds come to the rescue again, this time those with strong taproots that can drill down and break up the compaction. Think dandelions here.

I often use daikon and sweet potato for a natural source of easy tillage to deal with compaction - but if wild weeds show up to help, I always welcome their effort.

Carbon Sequestration

All plants intake CO₂ and convert it into solid-form carbon - stored in the plant cells and in the soil microbiome.


That's all for now, thanks for reading!

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