Weed Control
Birds are amazing creatures. They do many things, including helping to keep all kinds of weeds under control, and they do it through the constant ingestion of weed-seeds, weed-blossoms, as well as the insects that live on them. Birds can be considered natural agents that are willing to work for free when it comes to keeping weed growth in check. Finches, goldfinches, chickadees, Clark's Nutcracker, dove, sparrows, jays and blackbirds like to eat seeds, including seeds from pigeon grass, smartweed, bindweed, ragweed, crab grass, lamb's-quarters, and pigweed. A number of these weed-destroyers also like insects, but weed-seeds are definitely in the mix. Finches and sparrows are a few examples of heavy weed-seed consumers.
In addition to seeds, they also destroy weeds when using their strong beaks to tear apart various parts of the weed plant to build nests. If it were not for avian nest builders, weeds might be a much bigger problem.
There are good weeds in nature too, and these are the ones that offer ecological and human benefits. Examples are..
- Dandelion - A dandelion can be ingested for the benefit of detoxification and adding nutrients to the human body.
- Blue Violet - The common blue violet is a perennial native to North American, and is an excellent pollinator plant.
- Purslane - This plant is native to Australia and packed with health benefits.
- Chickweed - A chickweed crawler is very high in vitamins, and good for salads and sandwiches.
- Mallow - This is amazing food and medicine.
- Amaranth - Considered by some to be a superfood, amaranth gets very close to providing a complete nutritious meal.
- Dutch White Clover - Its nectar has a high sugar content, and its pollen has a high protein content. It makes an excellent plant for a variety of pollinators.
Considering the bad and the good..
Weeds offer pollinator support, soil improvement, edible recipeis, and medicinal uses. They can also serve as indicators of soil health. So weeds have a place in nature too, and are not necessarily a bad plant, but weeds often grow too much in the wrong places, starving other plants for water and space. Creat a flowering lawn»
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