Weeds seem like a gardener's biggest nemesis, but thanks to Epic Gardening (@epicgardening) on TikTok, there are actually super easy ways to turn pesky weeds into garden essentials.
The scoop
In a TikTok, Epic Gardening doesn't give just one, but three ways to turn weeds into compost, watering liquid, or even just back into a nutrient-rich top layer for your garden.
@epicgardening Weeds are a fantastic source of nutrients for your garden, if you use them right! The biggest mistakes you'll run into are putting invasive species into your compost pile and making sure they are not completely dead beforehand. That'll just spread the species around, which you don't want. You can also put weeds with a lot of seeds into your compost, which can just spread them around your garden for the next year, so make sure you're putting in weeds that have not developed seed heads. #ga#garden ♬ original sound - Epic Gardening
The first method Epic Gardening breaks down is turning them straight into compost.
"Pull your weeds before they seed, dump them in a pile, let them sunbathe," the TikToker explains. "And when they're bone dry, you can add them to the compost and let mother nature do the work."
Simple enough. Method two involves making "super weed juice." You also don't have to have a compost bin for this one. Just pull and place your weeds in a five-gallon bucket filled with water. Let the mixture stew for a few weeks, mixing occasionally.
"Strain out the stinky weed liquid, and now you have super weed juice!" the TikTok explains. "Dilute one part juice into nine pounds water and use it to water your garden directly."
From there, you can dispose of your weeds as you regularly would or compost them if you have a compost bin.
Finally, method number three is by far the simplest.
Don't toss your weeds — they're a free source of nutrients for your garden.
"Just pull 'em and drop 'em," the narrator says. "They'll break down over time and build the surface of the soil."
How it's helping
All three of these methods are a great way to boost the natural nutrients in your soil, but they also help keep organic matter out of landfills. A lot of people toss their weeds in the garbage. Although weeds and other yard waste are organic, and you would think they'd be able to break down easily in a landfill, that's not the case.
Organic materials in landfills not only take up space that legitimate garbage could be filling up, but they also produce methane, a leading gas warming our planet.
Organic materials also produce leachate, which occurs when water flows through these substances and becomes contaminated. That water then has the chance of flowing into our waterways, harming us and other wildlife that depend on it.
What everyone's saying
TikTokers seems pretty pleased to have three new solutions for their garden weeds.
"Thank you!" one person said. "I have been wondering this!"
"WAIT. I can just drop them?!" a shocked viewer said. "They won't just re-root themselves? ... why did I think that?"
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