Indicator Plants
What started out as a post on garlic rust a few days ago, has turned into a fascinating discussion on soil deficiencies and indicator plants.
Søren just made a great post on determining things about your soil health by looking at the weeds in your garden. This is based on the idea that some weeds prefer nutrient imbalances or other conditions, so by looking at what’s growing in your garden you can get clues as to what problems you may have.
While Søren’s post focuses on weeds commonly found in Denmark, Chris pointed out a book on ‘weed reading’ that’s probably more general in scope.
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[...] tell a lot by taking an inventory of your weeds and researching the conditions they do well in. I made a post about this before. There are a few books around on the subject, and a little information available on the Internet. [...]
[...] do a soil test. If this is not possible or desirable, inventory the weeds of the area, and see if they indicate problems with your soil. Make a plan for dealing with any problems you discover. If chemical fertilizer [...]