> No I don't know what you mean so I will have to
> guess.  Are you saying that
> weeds growing around my crop, if I had one, are
> trying to tell me, so to
> speak, that I should plant elsewhere??  I don't
> think I've ever seen a crop
> without weeds......  Oliva (not a gardener)

Two schools of thought on this one (maybe more, I just
haven't read them).

The first school of thought is that ma nature wants
the weeds to grow there for some unknown purpose. Most
of the proponents of this idea just let the weeds
grow, and if their crops do poorly - oh, well.

Second school of thought is that "mother nature abhors
bare ground", so she puts something there to cover it.
Doesn't matter what it is - could be weeds, a log, a
rock, a pond. Proponents of this idea believe that by
substituting something else - like mulch - serves her
purpose. I happen to belong to the latter school.
Here's why...

Take a walk through the woods sometime. You'll find
tons of different ecosystems - sometimes in close
proximity to each other. THE thing that stands out is
that "weeds" (or at least the plants WE classify as
weeds) generally only grow in areas free from any kind
of ground cover. It becomes apparent that they are
intended to grow, die, decompose, and become fertile
new soil. Once the soil becomes fertile, then an
entire new type of plant moves in and takes advantage
of the area where the weeds were. These new plants are
generally far stronger and more resilient than the
weeds ever were.

Last year, as an experiment, I tossed some wildflower
seed in a patch of ground that was previously infested
with weeds. The wildflowers obviously like the spot
(fertile soil), because they grew abundantly. What
amazed me was that this year that same spot was pretty
much weed free - the wildflowers had established
themselves and crowded out the weeds! Tells me that it
doesn't really matter what's there - just as long as
it's something.

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