How To Determine Soil Characteristics By Herbs And Flowers And Much More

2024 Author: Sebastian Paterson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:47

What herbs and flowers can tell a gardener

Our flora has in its arsenal thousands and thousands of plants, and with many individual properties, characteristics and amazing abilities. Unfortunately, today in the agrotechnical literature these characteristics of plants, and especially of informant plants, have not yet been disclosed. As evidenced by the conversations conducted by the author with summer residents and gardeners, these plant abilities are not yet known to everyone and are almost never used on the plots. Proceeding from this, the author found it useful to show the features of informant plants and give the areas of their effective use in the plots.

Soil acidity

This is a very important indicator of the condition of the soil, affecting the yields of almost all crops grown on the site. At the same time, in order to know the acidity of the soil (pH), it is not at all necessary to use instrumental methods, but it is enough just to carefully look at what is growing on it.

If, for example, a buttercup, sedge, sorrel, hawk, horsetail, cinquefoil, daisy, cornflower, knotweed, pickle, mint or white beetle grow lushly on the site or in the place of the intended bed, this clearly means that the soil is acidic (pH = 4-5) and needs increased liming.

If, in the place of interest, odorless chamomile, thistle, clover, creeping wheatgrass, field bindweed, burdock, daisy, coltsfoot and bird knotweed grow, then the soil is slightly acidic (pH = 5-6) or neutral (pH = 6-7) and requires minimal liming. At the same time, as far as I can judge from my experience, it is enough just to add ash to the soil.

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Soil fertility

This soil indicator is especially important, as it reduces fertilizer consumption.

Plants that increase soil fertility include green manure plants (lupine, peas, vetch, fodder beans, saradella, etc.), as well as biodynamic plants (yarrow, dioecious nettle, valerian, etc.). The first of them are crushed and embedded in the soil, enriching it with nitrogen and organic substances, and the latter are brought into compost after crushing, giving it, and, therefore, the soil, "living" nutrients that contribute to the cultivation of a higher and healthier harvest.

Using in his practice lupine (from the first group) and nettle (from the second), the author managed, without any costs, not only to improve the quality of the soil annually, but to increase yields by almost 1.5 times.

Soil nutrition

As you know, the ratio of essential nutrients in the soil is often violated for a variety of reasons. Most plants react to this very accurately and can tell what a summer resident or gardener needs to do.

For example, if a plant has light green foliage, fresh leaves turn yellow, if it slows down its growth, then this means that it is low in nitrogen. With an excess of nitrogen, white spots appear on the edges of the leaves, spreading between the veins, and the ends of the leaf plates curl up.

If reddish pigmentation is observed on the leaves or the leaves are dark green and move away from the stem at an acute angle, and it is clearly withering away, then the plant is hungry for phosphorus nutrition.

With an excess of phosphorus, the leaf blades turn yellow, their edges turn reddish brown.

No less definite hints of plants about the nutritional value of the soil can be easily found also with a deficiency or excess of many other nutrients; experienced gardeners, taking into account their practice, are able to recognize this deficiency.

Relationships among plants

Many summer residents and gardeners also know that almost every plant can be matched with one that will positively or negatively affect its neighbor.

Desirable neighbors are, for example: for cabbage - celery, dill, lettuce; for cucumber - cabbage, lettuce, radish, peas; for tomato - pepper, celery, onion, parsley; for potatoes - onions, eggplants, cabbage; for carrots - onions, lettuce, tomato, peas, etc.

Unwanted neighbors in the garden are as follows: for cabbage - tomato and beans; for cucumber - potatoes and herbs; for potatoes - cucumber, pumpkin, celery; for tomato - potatoes and kohlrabi, etc.

In the first case, the same community arises between plants as in nature, for example, between raspberries and nettles. In the second case, on the contrary, there is mutual suppression and decrease in productivity among plants. Therefore, knowledge of the relationship of friendship and enmity among plants is a reserve for increasing yields on the plots.

Detection of water in the subsoil

There are many plants that predict the presence of water in the subsoil. These are licorice, saxaul, tamarisk and others. But this is in the southern edges. In our country, the most reliable indicator of groundwater is the common currant, and it has long been unmistakable. Even if it grows in a dry place, this means that the groundwater is close, and you can confidently dig a well or make an artesian well.

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Detection of contamination in soil

Some representatives of the flora have the ability to respond to atmospheric pollution, and there are plants that, with the smallest changes in the air environment that are barely caught by devices, already respond to them.

Begonia, for example, registers an increase in carbon dioxide on highways, first by dots and spots, and then by holes in the leaves.

At the same time, there are plants, for example, the plantain, which prefers trampled places for its growth, areas along the roads, and also where there is at least some kind of path nearby.

Weather prediction by plant behavior

Hundreds of plants react to changes in the weather like a barometer.

If you observe, for example, a dandelion, hare cabbage, saxifrage, fern, calla lilies or maple, they can predict the weather in a few hours or even days. They warn about the approach of bad weather in different ways. Some of them open flowers at night, others, on the contrary, close them tightly, and still others begin to release moisture or juice that flows from the leaves.

Among these plants, there are those by which you can compare the clock. They spread their leaves and flower petals at the same morning hour and fall asleep at the same evening hour. Even in complete darkness, for example, beans stubbornly follow the rule: in the daytime they spread the leaves, and at night they press them to the stem.

If we add to what has been said that many plants are able to predict the presence of the most valuable ores in the bowels, as well as to indicate the content of helium in the air and oil deposits, then it is impossible to call all this a miracle. And although much of what has been said so far does not have a generally recognized scientific justification, most of the predictions cited are increasingly serving summer residents and gardeners on plots.