Plant Roles: Nutrient Accumulator

Some plants have the ability to put down deep roots and pull up nutrients into their leaves. These leaves then return the nutrients to the topsoil when they die and decompose, at which point the nutrients are freely available to other plants. Because of their ability to do this, these plants are called nutrient accumulators, accumulating specific nutrients and then releasing them upon decomposition.

Nutrient accumulators are an important facet of a self-fertilizing garden. Necessary nutrients that are missing from the topsoil can be collected and shared out. The nice thing is that these plants' natural abilities and tendencies do all of the work. Many of these plants focus on specific nutrients, so, by determining which nutrients are missing you can determine which plants to add. Once added, these plants will begin to mine for the critical nutrients.

Toby Hemenway, in his book Gaia's Garden, has a list of eighty-four plants that are nutrient accumulators for

Lamb's quarters - Chenopodium album

one or more of a dozen different nutrients. Some are typically considered weeds, such as dandelion, Lamb's quarters, and red root pigweed. Others are well known herbs, like chives, parsley, savory, and fennel. And some are even typically used for their flowers, including flowering dogwood, geranium, marigold, lupine, primrose, and tansy. As you can see, the list of nutrient accumulators covers quite the gamut and includes many multipurpose plants, which is perfect for permaculture.