One thing I’ve learnt in recent years is don’t be afraid of weeds. Some weeds are actually quite useful, very few are actually a big pain. In fact, once you’ve found a use for a weed, it can even become welcome. Take for example, docks. They have a deep tap root which means that they bring up much needed minerals and nutrition from the sub-soil. If you cut off the leaves and leave them to rot down on the surface, those nutrients become available to other plants. Nettles, comfrey and docks can all be used to make liquid fertiliser.
You can feed a lot of weeds to your rabbits. I’ve been feeding docks, groundsel, chickweed, plantains, cleavers, dandelion and shepherd’s purse to mine. You can also eat chickweed (tastes a bit like cress), and nettles and cleavers can be used to make a healthy herbal tea, full of pick-me-up minerals.
It is also worth bearing in mind that weed seeds are tiny packets of intense goodness, locked up. The only way to access those nutrients is to let them germinate. So, instead of cursing all those weeds that immediately spring up as soon as you’ve dug your veggie patch, welcome them. Either hoe them and let them rot down where they are to feed your plants, or let them grow a bit more and use them. Besides, as soon as you’ve found a use for them, they will die out!
The Frantic Smallholder 