Weeds? Know the type of soil through spontaneous herbs

In agroecology , adventitious or spontaneous herbs are considered as resources that we can put in our favor for various issues. One of them is to know certain characteristics of the soil in the organic garden due to the presence of these so-called » weeds «.

When certain plants grow spontaneously and wildly in the soil, they can be of great interest to us to give us information about the situation and composition of the soil at that time. In fact, depending on the physical characteristics of the soil, certain types of plants emerge more easily.

I give you some examples:

– Soils that tend to retain water : we find Mentha arvensis, Ranunculus repens, Tussilago farfara or Equisetum sp.

– Compact soils : Potentilla anserina, Plantago major or Matricaria discoidea.

– Light soils : Adonis aestivalis, Consolida regalis or caryophylláceas in general.

– Sandy and silty soils : Fumaria officinalis, Lamium purpureum and Myosotis arvensis.

– Sandy and stony soils : Legousia speculum-veneris, Erodium cicutarium or Falcaria vulgaris.

– Soils rich in nitrogen : Urtica dioica, Chenopodium album, Mercurialis annua, Senecio vulgaris, Amaranthus retroflesux, Galium aparine and Echinocloa crus-gali.

– Soils poor in nitrogen : Alopecurus myosuroides, Alchemilla or Aphanus arvensis and Tripleoruspermum maritimum.

– Soils rich in potassium : Althaea officinalis, Artemisa sp., Centaurea sp. and Fumaria officinalis

– Soils lacking in lime : Trifolium arvense, Digitalis purpurea, Viola tricolor, Drosera sp., Verbascum lychnitis and Sarothamus scoparius.

– Soils with good structure : Chenopodium album and Lamium sp.

– Soils with very good structure : Stellaria media, Mercurialis annua, Urtica urens, Galinsoga parviflora, Euphorbia sp.

– Soils with regular structure: Avena fatua, Arthemis arvensis, Consolida regalis, Lithospermum arvense.

– Soils with poor structure : Grasses in general, Raphanus raphanistrum, Alchemilla vurlgaris and Matricaria chamomilla.

– Soils with very poor structure : Anthoxantum odoratum, Equisetum arvense, Juncus sp. and Polygonaceae in general.

But in addition, weeds offer us other benefits:

• Avoid soil erosion
• They improve the structure of the soil
• They favor biological activity in the soil
• They can be part of green manure and can be used to make compost