Summer and fires
Last weekend's weather and nearby fires finally brought home to me that in those conditions it would be impossible to protect my house, or quite possibly my life, with nothing more than garden hoses and mains water. Last Saturday it was 44C (111F) when I got home at 2pm and the wind so strong it felt like it was melting my eyeballs. I went out to
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I'm hoping he doesn't mind his picture being used!
Peter Andrews says weeds are excellent for helping to manage salinity (all plants are good, but especially grass and weeds - trees take too long to grow) and for returning carbon to the soil. He says that grasses, when grazed, remove carbon, causing the fertility of the soil to diminish. Weeds, which generally aren't eaten, put carbon back as the plant breaks down. He describes the natural cycle as good grass to bad grass, then to weeds, then back to grass once the fertility of the soil has sufficiently improved, and said about 10% weeds generally maintains the health of the paddock. Also, they help maintain biodiversity, and weeds with a tap root like Paterson's Curse provide a conduit for water to enter the soil once the weed has withered away. He suggests slashing weeds for mulch after they've finished flowering. It would be a leap of faith!
It ties in quite a lot with the natural farming approach I was trying to follow when I had the dolomite, lime and gypsum spread. That person (Pat Coleby) also doesn't recommend spraying weeds, though I wasn't game to go along with that part. She says they will cease to grow once you get the soil balance right. Andrews is using the weeds themselves to correct the soil (while also managing underground water).
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Beekeepers love Paterson's Curse, also.
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