Title: Start a National WeedBuddies Week at your school
Aim:For students to showcase the work they have done on becoming advocates for sustainable weed management.
Ideas to consider for hosting a National Weed Buddies Week:
Survey weeds at your school both the grounds and your kitchen garden, a local park, a nature reserve, the coast, sidewalks, pavements, or a farm (local community farms such as Collingwood Children’s’ Farm for those in Melbourne) can all provide a wide array of weeds.
How do the weeds differ in different locales?
Learn about the biology of the weeds at you surveyed?
Do they have any allelopathic properties?
Why are they there? Eg does the soil favour the weeds over other plants? Ph levels, nutritional preference? Can the weeds be deterred by changing the acidity of the soil, the nutritional level of the soil?
Are they beneficial or destructive to the ecology of the school garden?
Do they add to the ecological health of the surrounding environment by deterring pests or acting as pest traps or by deterring other more problematic weeds?
Are the weeds toxic? Are the safe? Do they have any know medicinal or food value?
(Remember NEVER eat weeds without expert advice)
What sustainable (non-chemical) options are available for their management?