What am I Even Talking About?

Up to this point in time, all of the work that I have been putting into this project has gone towards choosing a topic.  Now, I have finally chosen something: weeds!  This subject may appear to contain little depth and be a very boring topic overall, but I'm going to endeavor to disprove the two aforementioned points.  I want to discuss certain things about these little hardy plants that often receive unearned hurt and not enough appreciation.

Although I have some exposure to weeds because of my own personal experience and the research I did earlier this week to know what I had taken pictures of, I, like most people, hadn't given much thought to weeds.  What is there to consider, you may ask.  To tell you the truth, I didn't think there was much there either.  I expected to go into my research and learn a couple random facts like how different types of invasive weeds have overcome certain landscapes and the like.  While there are plenty examples of this happening, there was so much more as well.

My first step in the weed research was to look up the definition of a weed.  According to the Merriam Webster dictionary, a weed is "a plant that is not valued where it is growing and is usually of vigorous growth; especially :  one that tends to overgrow or choke out more desirable plants".  From this definition, the interesting information comes from the interpretation of the wording.  Since the plant is not wanted where it is, they are immediately placed in a lower echelon in relation to the other flora that inhabit America's lawns.  The persistence of weeds is further elaborated upon in the second clause.  Although weeds aren't desired, they possess the necessary adaptations to survive and even thrive. These different characteristics would vary from species to species.

Now that I knew that what weeds were, I thought it would be best to move into what they do. From reading an article on the subject, I learned about what looking at the types of weeds that exist and where they are growing can tell about the land itself: whether the soil is high or low in nutrients or if it was dry or too wet. Since weeds have such an innate ability to grow and thrive, they will persist in situations where other, more "desirable" plants, often those that have been domesticated, will not.  And if certain types of weeds can grow under conditions that will choke out competitors, it becomes easy to discern the condition of the soil.  From this, farmers and gardeners would be able to adjust the the conditions appropriately to best promote the growth of their crops.  If people were more familiar with what the presence of certain plants signified, they could more effectively, and at a lower cost, manage their crops or flower beds or any other plants they were growing. 

So weeds can tell you the conditions of the soil, without any expensive lab equipment or other types of highly specialized tools. Still, I wondered what else weeds could do for us.  Could there be a link to something greater?  Could tap roots and weaving stems be holding together something much greater than just the ground we stand on?

These questions show the way to a more meaningful story that could be present in this seemingly simple subject.  However my story eventually forms, I think the inclusion of this information will greatly help with the understanding of weeds, I know it sure helped me.  This would probably be good information to include in the introduction of the story located on the double-page spread.  I look forward to further researching the subject and learning more about the greater impact of these "undesirables."

Citations:
Jay, Farmer. "What Is the Purpose of Weeds And Why Are They Important?" New Times Broward-Palm Beach. N.p., 18 May 2016. Web. 16 Mar.          2017.
"Weed." Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 16 Mar. 2017.