Beneficial weed

A Beneficial weed is any of various plants not generally considered domesticated, but which nonetheless has some companion plant effect, or else is edible or somehow beneficial. Beneficial weeds include a great many wildflowers, as well as many weeds that are commonly removed or poisoned.

Companion benefits

Many beneficial weeds attract parasitic insects away from other crops, sometimes even poisoning those insects and thus ending their threat entirely. For example; several kinds of weed will be devastated by Japanese beetles while normally attacked vegetables nearby go completely ignored.

Some others:

* lock nutrients into the soil
* repel insects and other pests through their smell
* are unpleasant to small animals, because of their spines or other features, keeping them away from an area to be protected
* seem to subtly change the flavor of other plants around them, in a way humans find desirable
* provide a "living mulch" effect, keeping the ground moist and healthy and preventing the growth of "actually" harmful weeds
* grow on different levels in the same space, perhaps providing ground cover or working as a trellis for another plant
* some weeds repel plants or fungi, through chemical means
* attract or are inhabited by beneficial insects or other organisms which benefit plants, as with ladybugs or some "good nematodes"
* one plant type of plant may serve as a wind break, or shade from noonday sun, for another
* plants which attract pests away from others

Some are edible. This list of edible flowers includes many wildflowers that are considered weeds when not planted intentionally.

Indeed, another kind of beneficial weed is any decorative wildflower that is yanked out or cut when young, so its actual identity is never recognized by the gardener or yard keeper.

Dandelion is a relatively well-known example of an edible weed.

pecific plants

* List of beneficial weeds
* List of companion plants

External links

* [http://www.pfaf.org/leaflets/usefulweeds.php Plants for a future -- Useful weeds]
* [http://www.motherearthnews.com/Organic_Gardening/1987_July_August/Good_Weeds Good Weeds] -- it has an especially good list of "soil indicator" weeds