01/17/2022
recently the district landscaping department wacked down a garden we tended -- pruning fruit trees like they were landscaping bushes and w**d wacking all the plants to bare soil....I am teaching the kids about SOIL - This is possibly the only site that has been consistently talking AND doing composting for 15 years (though some of my other D3 sites are close behind :))...this is part of climate science we need to pay serious attention to. This is the work these children will need to be doing....
Should you use w**d barrier in your garden to suppress w**ds? No, and here’s why: plants need healthy soil. Healthy soil requires water and air moving through it. Healthy soil also requires organic matter like decomposing leaves. Healthy soil needs earthworms and insects that help aerate the soil. Healthy soil is teeming with fungi and micro-organisms that help plants grow and thrive. When you place w**d barrier over the ground, you are blocking air and water from reaching roots. (Yes, w**d barrier is supposed to have tiny holes that to allow water through, but those holes clog up very quickly.) You are blocking insects from aerating the soil. You are blocking decomposing leaves from feeding the micro-organisms that keep soil healthy. Finally, w**d barrier doesn’t work, because w**ds will grow right on top of it. One of the best things you can do for your yard is to pull up all of the w**d barrier and allow your soil and plants to recover.
(source: Howard Garrett, the Dirt Doctor; image: D. Benson)
