2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
In the glorious family of Legumes, whose plants take care not only of their well-being, but also support the fertility of the soil, there is a simple and unpretentious creature named "Donnik". Behind its external simplicity lies a mass of internal advantages
Common plant
Unpretentious Donnik can be found in meadows, wastelands anywhere in the world.
The branchy stem of a herbaceous plant rises to the heavens to a height of up to 2 meters. Petioles with leaves, consisting of three oval-oblong leaves with a serrated edge and a sharp nose, branch off from the stem. The middle leaf is the leader in size, and therefore has a longer petiole. Although often the leaves do not have personal petioles, but sit in a friendly trinity on one petiole. The bottom of the petiole is additionally decorated with sharp stipules, inferior in size to the main leaves.
The taproot goes deep, loosening the soil, extracting moisture and minerals for the aboveground part of the plant and giving shelter to microorganisms that can extract nitrogen from the air to enrich soil fertility. Such abilities of the root turn Donnik into a human helper when it is necessary to heal the depleted or infested soil with weeds and pests.
From the axils of the leaves, peduncles with rather large (up to 7 cm in length) yellow or white flowers appear in the world. The flower petals are loosely arranged in a 5-toothed green cup, creating the appearance of moths that have sat down for a minute to rest, wearily lowered their wings to the surface of the earth. For this shape of flowers, the plant is attributed by botanists to the subfamily Moths. In a friendly flock, "moths" are located along the entire length of the peduncle, forming a racemose loose inflorescence.
The culmination of the growing cycle is naturally the beans.
Donnik's advantages
* Donnik blooming all summer willingly shares its nectar and pollen with bees, which in gratitude pollinate its butterfly flowers. As a result, bees and humans have the most fragrant and healing honey, and the plant has the ability to extend its life on the planet.
* The rapidly growing greens of Donnik, rich in useful and easily assimilated substances by animals and humans, are suitable both for a green salad for dinner and for appetizing pet food. It is believed that cows feeding on Donnik produce more milk, tastier and fatter. And the meat of animals raised on such food is fatter and more tender, and simply melts in the mouth, cooked by a skilled housewife.
* Donnik herb has healing properties, which we will discuss in a separate section.
* For us, gardeners and gardeners, this plant is a real natural panacea in the fight for soil fertility without the use of chemicals. Even novice gardeners today know that it is not worth planting one crop in the same place for several years in a row. After all, the enemies of our crops have adapted very well to reproduce in such plantings, where every year "both a table and a house" are ready for them.
Only by alternating different crops, we reduce the percentage of a certain type of pest, but do not increase soil fertility. Sweet clover simultaneously solves two problems: it does not allow such, for example, insidious weeds as Barazikha, to safely continue to suck life-giving juices from the roots of our pets, and also enriches the soil with nitrogen - this "bread" for most plants.
Medicinal sweet clover
The healing abilities of wild-growing Medicinal Melilot have been used by man since ancient times. As scientists have found out today, the main healer in the plant is the substance "coumarin".
It was this substance that gave Donnik a characteristic smell, which people call "coumarin". Those who are familiar with Donnik know this smell, and who are not familiar, inhale its aroma, passing by any freshly cut grass.
Coumarin works wonders to relieve insomnia, normalize naughty nerves, and help heal wounds.
But, like any healer, in certain cases he can become an enemy, and therefore one should not resort to his services for pregnant women, with easy blood clotting, with dysfunctional kidneys.
