• Why Weeds?
• Weed Seeds and Self-Propagation
• The Weed Seed Bank
• Protecting Your Garden From Weed Seeds
• The Myth about Weedy Manure
• Solar-Powered Weeds
• Underground Weeds
• The Secrets of Weed Survival
• The Weedy Advantage: Crop Mimicry
• Masquerading Weeds
• Weed-to-Plant Warfare
• Fighting the War Against Weeds
• Cover Crops
• Cover Crops and Wide-Row Planting
• Smother Crops
• Mulches
• Store-Bought Mulches
• Hands-On Weeding
• About Herbicides
• Weed Disposal
• Beware of Cultivating Invasive Plants
• Ten Tips for Managing Your Weeds
• The Brighter Side of Weeds
• Index of Weed Illustrations

Excerpt from page 3 - The Weed Seed Bank

All gardeners can assume that every square inch of their garden soil contains weeds. Some of them may have been there for years, while others dropped or blew in only yesterday. The seeds that exist naturally in any soil are called the soil's seed bank. And just as with the dollars in your checking account, repeated withdrawals will make the balance go down. If no deposits are made (by allowing weeds to drop seeds or importing weed-seed-bearing manure or topsoil, for example), you can make your balance go lower and lower - maybe as much as 25 percent a year in the first three years. But you will never completely bankrupt your soil's weed seed bank, for some seeds will always blow in or perhaps hitch a ride on the feet of a passing bird.

Copyright permission by Storey Communications