A weed is a plant out of place What is a weed? The students came up with several very interesting definitions:
something that is not pretty
a plant that you didn't put there
a plant that just goes crazy if you leave it there
something that needs a new home
We discussed how some plant that we consider weeds may be useful in other ways - dandelion salads, stinging nettle tea, clover for soil enrichments. But in most cases, weeds are outcompeting the garden plants for water, nutrients, sunlight, and space.
The club members were given a tour of the parking lot garden at the school and were quick to pick out what should be there and what shouldn't. They then helped 'save' the spring buds by removing bindweed, dandelions, and thistle from the garden. Their favorite was the 'wild grass' since it was easy to pull up and was a perfect example of 'a weed is a plant out of place' - grass in the lawn = ok, grass in the flower garden = not ok.
