VOA慢速英语2021--种植时如何控制杂草

How to Control Weeds When Planting

From VOA Learning English, this is the Health & Lifestyle report.

No matter what you choose to grow in the garden, at some point, you will have to deal with unwanted plants, known as weeds.

Lee Reich is a gardener, and he writes about gardening for The Associated Press. He says a weed is just a plant growing in the wrong place. Even a tomato plant can become a weed if it grows where you don't want it to.

The problems with weeds

Besides being unwanted, what else do weeds do to a garden? Well, weeds can bring many problems.

One problem is this: Weeds steal from nearby plants. They steal nutrients² and water. If they grow large enough, weeds can steal, or rather block, sunlight from other plants.

Weeds, explained Reich, also can bring harmful bugs³ and diseases into your garden. For example, a plant called horse nettle⁴ is a favorite food for a kind of beetle⁵. This beetle also likes to eat potato plants. So, if you are growing potatoes, you do not want horsenettle nearby.

Some weeds release chemicals that can slow the growth of nearby plants. A plant called lambsquarters is guilty of this. The chemicals it releases into the soil may hurt the growth of vegetables such as corn and tomato.

They're not all bad.

It is important to note that some weeds are not all bad. In fact, some are edible⁶. In other words, you can eat them.

One edible weed is the one we just mentioned -- lambsquarters. It is not just edible. It is also very nutritious⁷.

The website Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners says that the leaves of lambsquarters "contain more iron and protein than raw cabbage or spinach⁸, more calcium⁹ and vitamin B1 than raw cabbage, and more vitamin B2 than cabbage or spinach."

In the book How to Enjoy Your Weeds, English writer Audrey Wynne Hatfield writes that lambsquarters was "once the most valued vegetable for human beings and..." their animals.

Dandelions are also viewed as a weed by many people. But dandelion leaves are also full of nutrients. And you can eat or use nearly every part of the plant.

But even other weeds can do good things in our garden. So, before we hurry outside to kill all the weeds, Reich warns us to consider their good side.

He says that weeds protect bare soil. The roots of weeds can prevent the soil from being blown away by wind or washed away by rain.

Over time, he writes, weeds improve the soil in many ways. Their roots break up soil to improve air flow and nutrient¹ content. As the roots of weeds die, they add important nutrients to the soil. And some weeds may correct mineral imbalances in the soil.

Ways to control weeds

However, left to grow on their own, weeds can take over a garden. Many plants are considered weeds because they grow quickly and easily in bad conditions.

To slow the growth of weeds, add a layer of weed-free, organic material to the top of your garden, around the plants. This material, called mulch, improves the soil and keeps weeds from growing. Reich says wood chips, sawdust, grass clippings, straw and pine needles are good for mulches.

A simple and effective method of weed control is to break up the surface layer of the soil. But you must do this regularly.

However, Reich gives this warning: Do not turn the soil over. Ever. Buried in the soil are weed seeds, waiting for the right conditions. If you turn the soil over, you give those seeds the light and air they need to grow.

Reich says to avoid using other man-made materials that may harm the environment, such as landscape fabrics¹¹ or black plastic. Over time, landscape fabrics become mixed with soil and roots. This makes it difficult to reshape a garden. Black plastic eventually finds its way into the trash. And neither is good at controlling weeds. And, Reich says, they are both ugly.

Herbicides are chemicals that kill plants. Reich says they should be a last resort, or the last thing you try because everything else has failed. These chemicals may harm garden plants or other parts of the environment. They often hurt pollinators, like bees and butterflies.

Probably the best way to fight some weeds is to eat them! Just make sure they are, in fact, edible.

Words in This Story

gardener – n. one who spends time cultivating plants and tending a garden for pleasure or recreation

edible – adj. suitable or safe to eat

bare – adj. not covered by leaves, grass, trees, or plants

layer – n. an amount of something that is spread over an area

wood chip – n.

sawdust – n. tiny particles of wood that are formed from sawing or sanding wood

grass clipping – n. the cut grasses that are left behind—or captured in a grass catcher—by your mower¹² when you cut your lawn

straw – n. the dry stems of wheat and other grain plants

landscape fabric¹⁰ – n. a textile material used to control weeds by inhibiting¹³ their exposure to sunlight

pollinator – n. an agent (such as an insect) that pollinates flowers

1 nutrient   

adj.营养的，滋养的；n.营养物，营养品

参考例句：

• Magnesium is the nutrient element in plant growth.镁是植物生长的营养要素。
• The roots transmit moisture and nutrient to the trunk and branches.根将水分和养料输送到干和枝。

2 nutrients   

n.（食品或化学品）营养物，营养品( nutrient的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a lack of essential nutrients 基本营养的缺乏
• Nutrients are absorbed into the bloodstream. 营养素被吸收进血液。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 bugs   

adj.疯狂的，发疯的n.窃听器( bug的名词复数 )；病菌；虫子；[计算机]（制作软件程序所产生的意料不到的）错误

参考例句：

• All programs have bugs and need endless refinement. 所有的程序都有漏洞，都需要不断改进。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The sacks of rice were swarming with bugs. 一袋袋的米里长满了虫子。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 nettle   

n.荨麻；v.烦忧，激恼

参考例句：

• We need a government that will grasp the nettle.我们需要一个敢于大刀阔斧地处理问题的政府。
• She mightn't be inhaled as a rose,but she might be grasped as a nettle.她不是一朵香气扑鼻的玫瑰花，但至少是可以握在手里的荨麻。

5 beetle   

n.甲虫，近视眼的人

参考例句：

• A firefly is a type of beetle.萤火虫是一种甲虫。
• He saw a shiny green beetle on a leaf.我看见树叶上有一只闪闪发光的绿色甲虫。

6 edible   

n.食品，食物；adj.可食用的

参考例句：

• Edible wild herbs kept us from dying of starvation.我们靠着野菜才没被饿死。
• This kind of mushroom is edible,but that kind is not.这种蘑菇吃得，那种吃不得。

7 nutritious   

adj.有营养的，营养价值高的

参考例句：

• Fresh vegetables are very nutritious.新鲜蔬菜富于营养。
• Hummingbirds have discovered that nectar and pollen are very nutritious.蜂鸟发现花蜜和花粉是很有营养的。

8 spinach   

n.菠菜

参考例句：

• Eating spinach is supposed to make you strong.据说吃菠菜能使人强壮。
• You should eat such vegetables as carrot,celery and spinach.你应该吃胡萝卜、芹菜和菠菜这类的蔬菜。

9 calcium   

n.钙(化学符号Ca)

参考例句：

• We need calcium to make bones.我们需要钙来壮骨。
• Calcium is found most abundantly in milk.奶含钙最丰富。

10 fabric   

n.织物，织品，布；构造，结构，组织

参考例句：

• The fabric will spot easily.这种织品很容易玷污。
• I don't like the pattern on the fabric.我不喜欢那块布料上的图案。

11 fabrics   

织物( fabric的名词复数 )； 布； 构造； （建筑物的）结构（如墙、地面、屋顶）：质地

参考例句：

• cotton fabrics and synthetics 棉织物与合成织物
• The fabrics are merchandised through a network of dealers. 通过经销网点销售纺织品。

12 mower   

n.割草机

参考例句：

• We need a lawn mower to cut the grass.我们需要一台草坪修剪机来割草。
• Your big lawn mower is just the job for the high grass.割高草时正需要你的大割草机。

13 inhibiting   

抑制作用的，约束的

参考例句：

• The high cost of borrowing is inhibiting investment by industry in new equipment. 借款的高成本抑制了企业对新设备的投资。
• The pesticides affect the nervous system by inhibiting the enzyme cholinesterase. 这类农药抑制胆碱酯酶而影响神经系统。