 Description: Burr Medic is a low-growing, almost hairless, sprawling herb with leaves divided into 3 heart-shaped leaflets. The terminal leaflet is on a longer stalk than the two side leaflets. It has clusters of 2-7, small, yellow, pea-type flowers with petals. The fruit is a small, greenish-brown burr with 1-6 tight coils that are often spiny. As A Soil Indicator: Low Calcium, Low Phosphorus, High bacterial activity, More abundant on heavy alkaline soils. Life cycle: Annual. Germinates in autumn to winter and produces large amounts of palatable herbage in winter and spring. Flowers in spring and dies with the onset of summer drought and high temperatures. Beneficial: Important pasture species especially on the heavy alkaline soils. Produces good quantities of palatable fodder over the winter to spring period. Burrs provide a protein supplement over summer. Fixes nitrogen. Nectary plant. Detrimental: Considered a weed of crops, gardens, lawns, recreational areas and disturbed areas Toxicity: Occasionally toxic causing photo sensitisation, clover sickness in sheep, cattle horses and pigs. Lambs including newly born ones are most affected. Mainly occurs on luxuriant growth during sunny weather in spring. May cause bloat in cattle.. 
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 Description: Native to North America, Ragweed is a fern-like plant that is detrimental to the environment. Fast-growing, the weed often hampers agricultural, Ragweed grows between 1 to 2m in height. It features a flower spike up to 20cm long with yellow flowers when mature and small, black seeds. As A Soil Indicator: Very low Calcium, Very high Potassium, Very low Phosphorus, High Magnesium, High Sulfate, Low Copper, Little organic matter, Compacted soils Life cycle: Annual. Seeds germinate in August to October after rain and grow quickly. Flowering starts in late summer and continues to May. Plants die in winter. Produces an average 3000 seeds per year with some producing up to 62,000. Seeds won't germinate for some time after maturity. Exposure to light and alternating temperatures improves germination. Seeds become dormant with high temperatures and may survive for over 40 years. Beneficial: Used to stop bleeding or as a cure for dyspepsia. Good forage value for quail and cattle but unpalatable to horses. The seeds produce an oil with good drying qualities that is potentially useful for paints and varnishes Detrimental: Causes severe hay fever and dermatitis. Cattle eat young plants, but horses avoid it so that it often over-runs horse paddocks. It produces toxins that affect the growth of neighbouring plants. Toxicity: Toxic. The unpleasant odour usually makes it distasteful to stock. It may cause a sore mouth in stock that graze it.Hay fever and skin irritations in people.
 “Soil is the great connector of lives, the source and destination of all. It is the healer and the restorer, and the resurrector by which disease passes into health, age into youth, death into life. Without proper care for it, we can have no community, for, without proper care for it, we can have no life.” – Wendall Berry Our relationship to the soil is absolute – It provides us with our food, building materials, medicine, filters our waters and stores carbon. It is composed of organic and inorganic material, gases, liquid and organisms that together support life. But over the last 50 odd years, our soils have not been faring so well. Research has shown that the nutrient availability in our soils is declining and this, in turn, has had an effect on our food. Dr David Thomas provides a comprehensive analysis of historical changes in food nutrient levels. By comparing data available from 1940 with that in 1991, Thomas was able to show a substantial loss in mineral and trace element content in every group of foods investigated. Mineral depletion in vegetables 1940 - 1991 Average of 27 kinds of vegetables  Mineral depletion in meat 1940 - 1991 Average of 10 kinds of meat  The nutrient depletion summarized in Thomas’s review represents an average of mineral and trace element changes in 27 kinds of vegetables and 10 types of meat. With this in mind, understanding how the minerals in the soil affect the plants we eat is critical from the macro nutrients to the ever essential micro nutrients. What functions does that mineral form in the plant, how can we assess the plants to see what they are deficient in, what are the conditions that can attribute to this reduction in nutrient availability, and typically, what crops may be affected. The information provided below can help show the relationship between the different minerals in our soils and the effects they have on our plants and in turn, us.        Some nutrient is also moves more freely than others Nutrient mobility in soil Very Mobile – (prone to leaching) nitrate Nitrogen, sulfate Sulfur, Boron Moderately Mobile – ammonium Nitrogen ( ammonium Nitrogen is temporarily immobile), Potassium, Calcium, Magnesium, Molybdenum Immobile – organic Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Copper, Iron, Manganese, Zinc (Chelated forms of Copper, Iron, Manganese and Zinc are mobile and resistant to leaching) Nutrient mobility in plants Very mobile – Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium, Magnesium (Deficiency symptoms appear first in older leaves and quickly spread throughout the plant) Moderately mobile – Sulfur, Copper, Iron, Manganese, Molybdenum, Zinc (Deficiency symptoms first appear in new growth but do not readily translocate to old growth) Immobile – Boron, Calcium (Calcium is very immobile) SOIL ANTAGONISM AND INTERACTION CHART  ITROGEN When high levels of Nitrogen induce accelerated growth rates, levels of micro nutrients that would normally be marginal can become deficient. High soil levels of Nitrogen can assist Phosphorus, Calcium, Boron, Iron and Zinc but an excess can dilute these elements. Low soil levels can reduce Phosphorus, Calcium, Boron, Iron and Zinc uptake. Ammonium Nitrogen can make Molybdenum deficiency appear less obvious. PHOSPHORUS High levels of Phosphorus reduce Zinc and, to a lesser degree, Calcium uptake. It is antagonistic to Boron in low pH soils. POTASSIUM High levels of Potassium reduce Magnesium and to lesser extent Calcium, Iron, Copper, Manganese and Zinc uptake. Boron levels can either be low or toxic. Low levels can accentuate Iron deficiency. CALCIUM High levels of Calcium can accentuate Boron deficiency. Liming can decrease the uptake of Boron, Copper, Iron, Manganese and Zinc by raising soil pH. COPPER High levels of Copper can accentuate Molybdenum and to a lesser degree Iron, Manganese and Zinc deficiency. IRON Iron deficiency can be accentuated by liming, low Potassium levels or high levels of Copper, Manganese or Zinc. MANGANESE High levels of Copper, Iron or Zinc can accentuate Manganese deficiency – especially repeated soil applications of Iron. Uptake can be decreased by liming or increased by Sulfur applications (because of the affects on pH) MOLYBDENUM Deficiencies can be accentuated by high levels of Copper and to a lesser degree Manganese. Uptake can be adversely affected by sulfates. Uptake can be increased by phosphates and liming. Molybdenum can increase Copper deficiencies in animals. ZINC Uptake can be decreased by high Phosphorus levels, liming or high levels of Copper, Iron or Manganese. Zinc deficiencies are often associated with Manganese deficiencies, especially in citrus.
 Description: A delicate annual herb, with small, paired, egg shaped, pointed-tip leaves on long, round, weak stems that have a line of hairs between the nodes. It has small white flowers with 5 deeply notched petals that are shorter than the sepals As A Soil Indicator: Very low Calcium, Very low Potassium, Very high Phosphorus, High Magnesium, High Iron, High Sulfate, High Copper, High Zinc, High Boron, High Chloride, High Selenium, Little organic matter, Compacted soils, Life cycle: Annual. Germinates anytime often with a main germination from autumn to spring. Flowers late-winter/spring Beneficial: Used as a green salad or cooked vegetable. It has medicinal and therapeutic uses, is rich in vitamin C and may be eaten as a salad vegetable. Detrimental: A very competitive plant in higher rainfall areas. It can accumulate nitrate and potentially become toxic to stock. In addition, it has a relatively high oxalic acid content and a low level of calcium that may have an adverse effect on dietary calcium bio-availability. Seed: Buried seeds are known to retain viability for at least 25 and probably over 40 years. Seed buried in soil for 10 years gave up to 22% germination. Toxicity: Not recorded as toxic
 Description: A purple/red, tufted annual grass to 600 mm diameter with upward bending stems, up to 800 mm tall, and a cylindrical spiny seed head that is often partially enclosed in the top sheath. As A Soil Indicator: Very low Calcium, High Potassium, High Phosphorus, Very high Magnesium, Very high Manganese, Very high Iron, High Sulfate, High Copper, High Zinc, High Boron, High Chloride, High Selenium, High Aluminum Very little organic matter, anaerobic activity, Sandy, well drained, low fertility soils. Life cycle: Annual. Seeds germinate mainly in spring to summer and it grows rapidly, especially after heavy summer rains. Burrs produced from December to April. Most plants die in winter but a few may survive and set more seed in spring. Beneficial: Fodder when young before the burrs develop.. Detrimental: Burrs puncture skin to degrade hides and cause ulcers in sheep mouths. Seed: The seed formed first is the largest and will germinate in a few months. Others are dormant for up to 3 years. Up to 1000 seeds per plant produced. Seed can germinate and establish from 250 mm deep. Burrs on the soil surface rarely germinate. Toxicity: Secondary infections may develop from physical damage, especially around the mouth
 I was very fortunate a couple of years ago when I was able to help out a community garden in our region and was gifted several plants as a thank you. One of these plants was a passion-fruit marigold - Tagetes lemmonii. Not knowing much about it at the time and assuming it was just like every other marigold, I planted it in the Potager garden.
While this plant has similar effects much like other marigolds, it also is a fabulous plant that has a more extended flowering period, from autumn right through to winter. It has beautiful yellow daisy flowers and is well known for its leaves. They possess an aroma which can be easily smelt when the wind passes over the foliage, or when the leaves are crushed. It smells like ripe passion-fruit! It is also a drought tolerant plant for a sunny position. It makes for a great addition to any permaculture garden - It is originally from Mexico, and it makes a fabulous border or informal hedge plant that is drought tolerant that thrives with the hot sun overhead and grows to approx 1.5 metres tall and 1 metre wide and is a soft-wooded perennial. I am now actively taking cutting to strike and also asked if the community garden has more seed so that I can more of this wonderful plant to my design. They are effective in a couple of different ways:
 Description: Sorrel is a perennial with a creeping habit, with lance shaped leaves 5-8cm long. Spikes of insignificant tiny, yellow flowers turn into small red/brown seeds. Leaves and stems can also have a brown tinge. The plant reaches a height of 30cm when in flower. As A Soil Indicator: Very low Calcium, Low Potassium, High Magnesium, High Selenium, High Aluminum Very little organic matter, Low bacterial count, , Sandy, pour drainage, More abundant on acidic sandy or loamy soils. Tolerant of low fertility soils. Life cycle: Perennial. Seeds germinate and roots form shoots from autumn to spring. Vegetative growth mainly occurs over winter and spring and it flowers from August to December. The top growth normally dies off in summer leaving the dormant, perennial, root system protected by the soil. Beneficial: Used as a herb and vegetable. Fodder but relatively unpalatable. The leaves are also rich in vitamin C, E, beta-carotene, and other carotenoids. Detrimental: High oxalate content Seed: Seeds remain viable in the soil for many years. Toxicity: May cause oxalate poisoning in stock. Breeding ewes are the most sensitive.
 Description: Erect, about 700 mm tall perennial herb or small shrub with sprays of golden yellow, 5 petaled, 20 mm round, daisy like flowers in spring and early summer. It also reproduces from rhizomes and persistent root stocks. The leaves are opposite, light green with many translucent oil glands. As A Soil Indicator: Very low Calcium, Very low Potassium, Very high Phosphorous, Very high Magnesium, High Iron, High Copper, High Selenium, High Aluminum Very little organic matter, High Salt, , Prefers untilled but loose soils Life cycle: Perennial. The plant reproduces from seed and vegetatively from underground rhizomes. Seeds germinate in the warmer months from October to March. They tend to remain vegetative and flower in their second season. Flowering stems emerge in spring, grow vigorously, and flower in summer. As the fruit capsule matures, the flowers turn brown and the leaves turn yellow in autumn as new shoots appear at the base of the plant. The old stems die off over winter but may remain standing for several months. Beneficial: Used as an antidepressant in herbal medicine. Source of red and yellow dyes. Herbal tea for melancholy. Ornamental. Detrimental: Fire hazard in plantations. Relatively unpalatable. Taints milk. Affects fleece quality and causes vegetable fault. Toxic. Toxicity: Toxic to horses, sheep, cattle and goats. Horses are most sensitive and goats least sensitive. Causes contact dermatitis in people. Both leaves and flowers may be toxic
 Global Gardener is a documentary film series about the permaculture approach to sustainable agriculture. Bill Mollison, The father of Permaculture and auther of the permaculture designers manual along with Julian Russell produced the series for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation; it premiered on Australian television in 1991. Urban is the third part of this groundbreaking series.  Description: A annual herb to 400 mm tall, with star and simple hairs, a basal rosette of leaves and erect stems bearing heart shaped pods. It has small, white 4 petalled flowers in winter and spring. As A Soil Indicator: Very low Calcium, High Phosphorous, Very high Magnesium, High Manganese, High Iron, High Sulphur, High Copper, High Zinc, High Boron, High Chloride, High Selenium, High Aluminum Very little organic matter, High Salt, , More common on heavy grey clays and red brown earths. Life cycle: Annual. Germination occurs in autumn to early winter or spring. The mature plant is erect in habit with a rosette which, depending on competition at ground level, may persist for much of its life. It flowers in late winter to spring and dies in summer. Beneficial: Cooked stems and leaves formerly used as a vegetable. Considered a medicinal herb. Detrimental: May taint milk. May discolour egg yolks. Relatively unpalatable and grazed sparingly. Toxicity: There have been report of animals that have died from fibre balls but only after consuming large quantities.
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