Have you ever noticed how some weeds grow in one area and not another? It turns out you can learn what you need to know about your soil health for free, without paying to test your soil type! Your weeds can keep you informed as to what plants will grow well and which ones may need help to grow there.
To learn any language requires taking the time to learn to and study. However, once you learn it, it’s yours for life, without the need for a soil tester. You will just need to study the language of the soil by observing the weeds that want to grow there and learning what that means.
Now we’ve written a lot on how so many weeds are actually food—and medicine—such as dandelion, plantain, hollyhock and other edible weeds you can eat. Some of these plants that are now often considered weeds were actually brought over by our European ancestors as hardy food stock for enjoyment and for survival.
We’ll link to some more of those important plants at the end. For ut for this article, we’re focusing on what weeds and plants are telling us about our soil.
You can buy a soil test kit, or, you can heed your weeds and learn the language of the soil.
Heed the weeds to know the health of the soil.
What Weeds Tell Us About Soil Health
Dandelion and Mullein
Gardeners and growers constantly battle with the weeds, but weeds can have a useful purpose as a soil index. Simply by observing which weeds are growing in a specific area, you can know if the soil is acidic or alkaline, whether it’s healthy and balanced soil, or if it’s depleted.
Weeds can indeed indicate nutrient deficiencies and excesses. The kind of weeds growing in a given area can even inform the astute observer as to land that retains too much or too little soil moisture as well.
When using weeds as a soil index, observe several of the most current types of weeds to get an accurate soil assessment. For example, both dandelion and common mullein indicate acidic soil, whereas mullein alone points to low fertility soil.
Mullein and dandelion growing together, indicate acidic soil.
Mullein
Growing alone, common Mullein indicates low fertility soil.
Clover
Beyond which weeds are growing, also note their health. For example, clover can grow in high and low nitrogen soil, however, it thrives in high nitrogen. So if you clover looks wimpy, chances are that soil is low on nitrogen.
Clover that is thriving, indicates soil with good nitrogen levels.
Don’t Listen to Purple Nettle and Shepherd’s Purse
It should be noted that some weeds like purple dead nettle (Lamium purpureum) and Shepherd’s purse (Capsella bursa pastoris) will grow on most soil types and so are not reliable indicators. But DO make good use of the dead nettle… and wonderful edible weed with purple flowers and many benefits.
Cornflowers are Great Communicators
The Centaurea cyanus, or cornflower and Hydrangeas are both excellent indicators for a soil’s pH. The flowers of these plants will be pink in acidic soil and blue in alkaline soil.
Hydrangeas and Cornflowers will flower pink in acidic soil and blue in alkaline soil.
An acidic soil is a soil with a pH below 7.0
Soil Health and Quality
There’s no one perfect soil for every plant. This is good news because it means that you can still have a green thumb and learn to grow great plants if you have the right plant for your soil health.
AND… as we will discuss soon, there are many simple ways you can improve your soil health by simply adding organic matter.
But first, let’s identify what weeds love acidic soil.
Many people have the mistaken impression that coffee grounds increase acidity. This isn’t really true, as you can read in this article using coffee grounds for plants which we’ve researched it extensively. You can also read more at the end of this article on how to increase soil acidity.
Add lime or wood stove or fireplace ash to raise the soil pH to the desirable pH range.
Next up is a list of weeds and plants you’ll find in alkaline soil.
Soil compaction, such as on paths and dirt roadways, or from heavy equipment such as in new construction can create a similar effect to clay soil that is rock hard.
Weeds that can grow in compacted soil is Mother Nature’s way of remediating that problem. These tough weeds are your friends, there to help break up the soil as well as add composting matter over time.
Weeds That Grow in Fertile Soil
Burdock (Arctiumminus)
Butter Print (Abutilontheophrasti)
Chickweed (stellariamedia)
Chicory (Cichoriumintybus)
Dandelion (Taraxacumofficinale)
Fat Hen ( Atriplexhastata)
Groundsel ( Seneciovulgaris)
Lamb’s-Quarters (Chenopodiumalbum)
Pigweeds (family Amaranth)
Pokeweed (Phytolaccaamericana)
Purslane (Portulacaoleracea)
Queen Anne’s lace (Daucuscarota)
Velvetleaf (Abutilonthoephrasti)
A healthy, fertile soil will have a pH of 6.2 to 7.0
Hostas – Shade to partial sun loving; new leaves are edible for people, and deer will devour these, so consider companion planting with deer deterrent plants.
Iris – a lovely landscape addition
Ornamental grasses – (Miscanthus)
Russian Sage – (Perovskia), purple flowers bloom, summer through fall in sunny landscape, attract pollinators but deter deer, so good to plant in between hostas
Tickseed – (Coreopsis), ankle to knee-high sun lovers in yellow, orange, red and maroon and purple; the common named is due to seed shape, not benefits).
Yarrow – (Achillea), great for attracting butterflies, with white, pink, red and yellow blossoms, late spring to mid summer.
Sheep Sorrel – (Rumex acetosella) – edible roots and leaves
Plants That Grow in Swampy or Soggy Soil
Dock
Horsetail
Foxtails
Willows
Ox-eye Daisy
Goldenrod
Poison Hemlock
Rushes
Sedges
Joe-pye
Wet spots are obvious during the rainy season but could appear fairly dry at other times. These weeds are excellent indicators that the area will be soggy at some time during the year.
Weeds That Grow in Sandy Soils
Arrow-leafed Wild Lettuce (Lactucapulchella)
Field Bindweed (Convolvulusarvensis)
White Cockle (Lychnisalba)
Cornflower (Centaureacyanus)
Dog Fennel (Eupatorium capillidolium)
Goldenrods (Solidagosp.)
Maltese Thistle (Centaureamelitensis)
Sandbur (Cenchrus species)
Small Nettle (Urticaurens)
Yellow Toadflax (Linaniavulgaris)
Plants and Weeds That Grow in Hardpan Soil
Hardpan soil, common to western Canada, is an impervious hard layer 2-4 feet under the surface that impacts the flow of air, oxygen and thus, nutrients.
Annual Bluegrass (Poaannua) = low calcium, humus, low and bacteria activity, and high magnesium levels.
Burdock = high in iron and sulfate, and low levels of calcium and manganese.
Buckhorn Plantain = low levels of calcium and humus; high in chlorine, magnesium, potassium, and sodium.
CommonChickweed and Mouse Ear Chickweed = low calcium and phosphorus levels, and high potassium and sodium levels.
Crabgrass = very low levels of calcium and phosphorus, low pH, low humus, very high chlorine levels, and high levels of magnesium and potassium.
Dallisgrass = low calcium, high magnesium and potassium levels.
Dandelions = low levels of calcium; high levels of chlorine and potassium.
Hop Clover and Oxalis = low levels of calcium and high levels of magnesium.
Prostrate Spurge = low calcium and high levels of chlorine, magnesium, potassium, and sodium.
Purslane and Mustard = abundance of phosphorus.
Red Clover = an excess of potassium.
Redroot Pigweed = an abundance of nitrogen.
White Clover = high levels in chlorine, magnesium, and sodium.
Wild Garlic = low calcium and bacterial count, and high levels of chlorine, magnesium, potassium, and sodium.
Yarrow (Achillea millefolium) = low potassium.
Unless you’re blessed with a photographic memory, you’re not going to remember all of these in one season. However, if you keep these lists handy for reference every time you encounter weeds in your yard and garden landscape, you will be able to learn the language of the soil over time.
In summary, by observing your weeds, you can know the state of your soil. However, if you’d still want to know more, you may be interested in this article on soil testing and tools.
How to Improve Soil Health
The good news is that no matter your soil type, there are a number of things you can do to improve your soil health. Here’s a quick list to get you going.
11 Ways to Improve Soil Health
Import good soil (invest in a truckload, if needed)
Companion planting – that add beneficial nutrients
Cover crops – plant cover crops to provide soil food specific to your soil’s needs
Crop rotation – revives and refreshes garden soil and pest
Manure – aged animal manure boosts soil fertility
Microbes – boost microbial activity by importing microbes
Mulch – according to the recommended mulch for your soil type helps keep soil surface moist and insulated from heat and cold, plus it breaks down as soil organic matter
Organic compost – add lots of organic matter, including make your own
Soil amendments – add soil food and nutrients lacking in your soil
Worms – add earthworms if you don’t have a healthy population of them
Keep soil moist to keep the worms and microbes happy
Once you get to know what kind of soil you’re working with, you’ll also know (or learn) what to add to amend it, both in nutrients and in the kind of mulch.
If you don’t have good soil to start, then definitely consider investing in a dump truck load of good soil. That foundation will save you a ton of work and stress during gardening season. Once you have that good foundation, it’s easier to keep it and build upon that by adding soil organic matter in your homemade compost.
If your soil is not acidic but you’d like to grow some of the plants that do best in acidic soil, there are amendments you can add that will help. You can also use seasoned pine straw mulch. Just be careful not to make your soil too acidic.
We discovered this the hard way in growing blueberries, as well as the condition of the pine straw that works best. HOWEVER, be aware that each circumstance may vary, depending on how much acidity is needed for improved soil health. Beyond that, it’s also important to know which plants need more — or less — acidity.
However, while fresh pine straw and fresh leaves add acidity initially, they weather to become neutral to slightly alkaline as Mother Nature works toward balance. So when using fresh pine straw and leaves to add acidity if that’s what’s available to you for free, work it into the soil a bit to give a short-term acidity boost.
How to Improve Clay Soil Health
Cover crops can definitely improve soil health. For clay soil, sow diverse crops and cover crops in rotation. A family farm North Dakota, dramatically improved their soil health naturally in just two years.
Adding coffee grounds to your clay soil can be beneficial for improving soil tilth.
Healthy Soil is the Foundation of a Healthy Garden
Soil is the most essential foundation of your garden. As such, it’s important to invest in good soil up front so that you’re not plagued with struggling plants leading to other problems.
Jean-Martin Fortier, author of The Market Gardener says that he has excellent soil trucked in when starting his garden and it’s worth it, many times over for getting started on the right foot.
When it comes to your soil health, whether it’s in your own yard or garden, or a property your considering buying, head the weeds and the wisdom of the language of the soil.
Wishing you a growing understanding of the language of your soil and wisdom from the weeds.
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