Eons ago, the first humans learned to drop seeds into the ground to grow plants for food, for beauty and for fiber. We’ve come a long way developing what plants we grow and how we grow them. And throughout all this time, weeds have tagged along.
But what is a weed? It’s nothing more than a plant growing in the wrong place. Tomato seeds often survive the rigors of a compost pile, then sprout in large numbers wherever the compost is spread. They are “weeds” if you don’t want them growing where they have chosen to sprout.
The problem with weeds is that they are robbers. They rob nearby plants of water and nutrients. If large enough, they rob sunlight as they shade garden plants.
Some weeds secrete chemicals into the soil that inhibit growth of nearby plants. Lambsquarter is one of many weeds shown to depress growth of neighboring vegetables such as corn and tomato.
Another problem with weeds is they can harbor pests that spill over to your garden plants. Horse nettle, for example, is a relative of potato that gives potato beetles a start early in the season before they move…
