Weeds: Guardians of the Soil

by Joseph A. Cocannouer

This is the first book to be written in praise of weeds. According to Joseph Cocannouer, weeds perform the following valuable services among 1. They bring minerals and make them available to crops. 2. When used in crop rotation they crop roots to feed deeply. 3. They fiberize and condition the soil make any soil productive. 4. They are good indicators of soil condition. 5. Weeds are deep divers and feeders they enable crops to withstand drought better. 6. As companion crops they enable our domesticated plants to get unavailable food. 7. Weeds store up minerals and nutrients and keep them readily available. 8. Weeds make good eating. No, Professor Cocannouer does not believe that weeds should be allowed to go rampant and take over our farms and gardens. The function of this book is to demonstrate how the controlled use of weeds can be sound ecology, good conservation and a boon to the average farmer or gardener. (From the Introduction) Get Your Copy Today!

Genres: Gardening, Nature, Sustainability, Agriculture

179 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1980

Reviews

[Brandon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ah! You mean all those weeds aren't evil criminals of the field? You mean I can save hours and hours of labor pulling them, hoeing them, and hating them? Fine by me!

I love books and ideas that challenge the status quo, the common sense that is all too often wrong. So I'm naturally drawn to this sort of book, automatically tempted to agree or at least strongly consider the idea. And in his writing, Mr. Cocannouer makes a good case. I'd be interested to try it myself, somehow experiment with it. I work on an organic farm and we never keep up with the weeding, quite, so maybe there's opportunity.

But, personal experiment or not, in general this lines up with reality, in my mind. Looking at nature, you see plants growing together, and while we are likely to think of it as competition, that is a mindset we apply to the world, not necessarily the world itself. Perhaps, as the author states here, they are actually in a cooperation of sorts, and there can be benefit even in the dreaded weeds.

[Michael Garner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy, light read on natural gardening/agriculture. Even though it is not an official permaculture book, and was written before the term was created, anyone interested in that subject should read this.

[Tina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm the kind of person who picks up a book with this title and says, oh that looks interesting!

And it was. I learned all about the deep divers that bring nutrients up through the hard pan.

[Sue Dounim · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was originally published in 1950. As with other readers I was attracted by the counterintuitive title. I'm not even an amateur gardener or farmer, so the conversational style of the book was easier for me. If I can summarize the author's arguments, they are that certain types of weeds can remediate deficient and defective soils, by fiberization, transport of minerals from subsoils layers, and other mechanisms. He gives many examples from his experience and interviews with farmers and agronomists.
There are a number of good full-page line drawings of weeds, but unfortunately no index. But it's not a long or technically dense book.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great encouragement, by way of effectively written anecdotes, for us all to become soil builders, weeds easily sliding into the protagonist role.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

very general, not a lot of specific experimentation.