Hello gardeners!

Stop calling them weeds. Simple as that. Weeds are just plants. They need love too.

As the steward of your garden, you have the privilege to choose what plant or plants you want growing in your garden. I do not grow morning glory in my garden but many gardeners love having it in their garden and often give it a place of honour. Any plant can be considered a weed if it has tendencies or characteristics considered undesirable in your garden.

Traditional gardeners strive for weed free gardens. An endless battle against certain plants all in the name of having a beautiful garden and being considered a good gardener. Read my blog post Do not let perfectionism drain the joy out of gardening. The pressure to keep up the garden is a bit like cleaning the kitchen, the job is never done for long. But who said gardens must be weed free? Are any plants really weeds?

*Common buttercup getting a strong foothold in a garden bed.*

What are weeds?

Traditional gardeners have identified certain plants as weeds. To me, plants growing where they are unwanted are weeds. If a plant is growing where you do not want it, then you can call it a weed. Even if that plant is for sale at your local garden centre. Some people might love a patch of oxalis in their garden while another gardener considers it a nemesis.

Why is one plant a weed and another a nursery plant?

I often wonder why do we call certain plants weeds and not others. There are grasses that grown abundantly yet we pay a premium for other grasses because the garden centres and landscape designers have deemed them more worthy. Hmm.

Are weeds bad in the garden?

No, plants (formerly known as weeds) are not bad in the garden. In fact, they represent an important part of the biodiversity of gardens.

When it comes to crops and weeds, there are important considerations beyond biodiversity if the undesirable plant is poisonous to livestock or the harvested leaves creates too much moisture in the crop. If your garden extends into crop production or permaculture, you will have plants you prefer not having in the ecosystem.

Do you need to remove weeds?

A gardener can choose which plants to grow in their garden and which plants are underwhelming and not worthy of taking up expensive real estate in the garden. If you like it, let it grow, and if the plant, shrub or tree, does not please you or thrive in your space, then remove it. You do not need to call it a weed. Just remove it.

Weeds intimidate gardeners

Novice gardeners are concerned they don't know which plants are weeds and which plants are "real". They are scared to begin weeding because they do not know which are the right plants and which are weeds. Surprise! All plants are real. Remove what you don't like and plant what you do like.

Identify invasive plants in your garden

It is important to point out that there are plants known as invasive plants. Gardeners do need to be knowledgeable in identifying invasive species for their local area. These are noxious plants you should not purposely have in your garden. It is important to check with local government or non-profit organizations specializing in invasive species in your area. Do not assume you know which plants are invasive because it usually surprises people to see what is invasive in their local area. I come clean on my role in spreading an invasive plant in the blog post on 5 Things I Wish I Knew When I Started Gardening.

Do weeds harm plants?

Many gardeners remove plants, often referred to as weeds, from crops or specialty garden areas because they do not want the trophy plant to be competing with less desirable plants. Dahlias, roses and vegetable gardens are prime examples where some gardeners prefer to have lots of space around plants. The mulch is bringing nutrients to the key plant and gardeners may not want competing plants to be stealing the nutrients.

Beneficial weeds for biodiversity

Weeds, if you are still using that word, are an integral part of the biodiversity of the garden. I prefer the practice of leaving seed heads on the plants as I hope to encourage birds in my garden. Yes, some plants may increase. My fall garden is full of rudbeckia for this reason.

Is there such a thing as environmentally friendly weed control?

No. Please do not use chemicals in the garden. When I was researching for this blog post, it was very troubling to see that all the google searches around the term weed, focus on chemicals. The worse the chemicals, the higher the number of searches. Weeds do not need to be killed with chemicals. A first step toward sustainable gardening is to eliminate chemical weed control use in the garden. And quit calling them weeds.

Maybe our traditional gardening rules, our mindset, could use some weeding. Pull out the rules that seem a bit too rooted in old methods modern science has proven invalid and make space for expanded biodiversity in the garden.

Enjoy your garden and let's get our hands dirty,