‘ which weeds to spare, and which to yank when organizing your landscape or gardens? Which weeds took you to the wild side? Have you given up some territory completely’
I’m still a novice - probably always will be - much to my husbands disgust I very rarely pull any weeds. I have to grow crops mainly in pots so I just cut back a patchof weed the size of the pot so that the base has contact with the earth and leave the surrounding weeds to help keep the air cool and moist. Probably the wrong thing to do but if I notice any problems I’ll have a rethink :) I stick with the weeds because I’m lazy, they often taste better and they look after themselves. I’ve not ventured to below ground harvesting yet - except for horseradish.
I have a ground elder ‘problem’ - and that was my gateway weed. No way of eradicating it so I decided to see what I could use it for instead. Opened up a whole new world of edible possibilities. Around the same time I had a conversation with someone whose family of teachers and doctors had survived during a modern European war, by eating dandelions….the start of my love affair with wild edibles.
That’s super! I bet you’re healthier with all that wild food than if you tried to fight it down in favor of the cultivated veggies. Seems that ground elder is weed of weeds in the UK. It has to have migrated here, so I’m going to watch for it. Do you have a favorite ground elder recipe? I’d say you have the right idea for a little cultivation within the wild weeds. 👍🏼
"Each newly appearing species has to be checked out .... whether it will play well with the other weeds and the few, previously planned species that remain." :-)
Yes! Early on, we are just happy to find plants that will grow! But only the ones that play nice get to stay. It is interesting to see that as soils improve, new and different species keep showing up.
We are surrounded by woods and each year we have a few white avens. They are especially attractive in the spring, but usually end up on the compost pile before they produce their stick-tight seeds.
Three favorites that volunteer are wood sorrel, chickweed, and purple dead-nettle. The wood sorrel covers the ground between vegetables without being too competitive. (It is a pleasant plant that plays nice!) The latter two make wonderful ground covers in spring, winter, and fall and then become noncompetitive during the heat of summer.
I concur with your choice of ground covers. Those are great around the vegetable patch, We make way for the purslane and the shepherd's purse too, because they fade out nicely during peak growing season. It's amazing how allowing some natural cycles to happen for awhile fixes the soil without outside "help". Also some of the weed seeds store in the soil for many decades, plus, crap happens, so each year is a surprise.
Seems that the white avens (Geum canadense) has got some medicinal applications too. Plenty of tannins. The usual chocolate root is G. rivale, water avens, but some claim to get that flavor from white avens roots too, by roasting.
I’m not normal, either – I didn’t mulch anywhere for years, or pull the new unidentified plant, and was rewarded with lots of fun things: the larkspur and variegated Bishop’s weed were the best. Having moved to a new place, I did the same adventure of discovery for years: Bouncing Bet, Snow on the Mountain and purple petunia and now forget-me-nots are mainstays. I’ve found dandelions are not invasive, and let them grow a few years in garden areas before harvesting. And, although I remove aggressively, there’s never a shortage of deadnettle and hairy Bittercress, or ground ivy. A neighbor gave me a jar of raw honey, saying she’s sure my back field of weed flowers fed her bees.
Super! It’s cool to let the plants arrange themselves. Seems as though you achieved a great array of volunteers, including many that people pay plenty to have in the landscape. I hope your neighbor stays forever grateful that you’re feeding her bees. :-D
Yep weeding is selective in my garden. Or at least there are spots where I'd prefer not to have that particular weed but it's ok to leave it in another spot.
My weeds will be completely different to yours so not much point naming them. I'm coming out of the tropical wet season and the overgrowth is huge so there's a lot of competition for light. I throw papaya seeds in particular spots but they'll only grow when they get some light.
Some plants like nettle I have to cultivate by pulling back native weeds, reducing the competition, to allow it to grow.
I bet you get some giant weeds that might need a bulldozer. :-D. I like to look at Aleya’s SubStack because she features plants from the Carribean. J.P. travels all over Australia and shows us amazing plants. Am I right that you’re in the North of AU? I’m gonna start a chat called “Show Us Your Weeds”. We could see great stuff from everywhere. It’s cool to know that nettles can grow where papayas are.
Cooool. So you are plenty warm there. J.P. has shown us a bunch of tremendous plants, some of which look like aliens dropped them. I bet you have some great ones.
You probably already use this site, but if not its really useful and one of our favourites! https://pfaf.org/user/Default.aspx
fascinating. thank you. always wondered what that was and why it had a wonderful smell when I whacked it from our vegetable garden. (sorry)
I always regret, when I'm pulling ground ivy, that I can't dry it all, or get everyone using it for digestion. But it composts very nicely.
‘ which weeds to spare, and which to yank when organizing your landscape or gardens? Which weeds took you to the wild side? Have you given up some territory completely’
I’m still a novice - probably always will be - much to my husbands disgust I very rarely pull any weeds. I have to grow crops mainly in pots so I just cut back a patchof weed the size of the pot so that the base has contact with the earth and leave the surrounding weeds to help keep the air cool and moist. Probably the wrong thing to do but if I notice any problems I’ll have a rethink :) I stick with the weeds because I’m lazy, they often taste better and they look after themselves. I’ve not ventured to below ground harvesting yet - except for horseradish.
I have a ground elder ‘problem’ - and that was my gateway weed. No way of eradicating it so I decided to see what I could use it for instead. Opened up a whole new world of edible possibilities. Around the same time I had a conversation with someone whose family of teachers and doctors had survived during a modern European war, by eating dandelions….the start of my love affair with wild edibles.
That’s super! I bet you’re healthier with all that wild food than if you tried to fight it down in favor of the cultivated veggies. Seems that ground elder is weed of weeds in the UK. It has to have migrated here, so I’m going to watch for it. Do you have a favorite ground elder recipe? I’d say you have the right idea for a little cultivation within the wild weeds. 👍🏼
"Each newly appearing species has to be checked out .... whether it will play well with the other weeds and the few, previously planned species that remain." :-)
Yes! Early on, we are just happy to find plants that will grow! But only the ones that play nice get to stay. It is interesting to see that as soils improve, new and different species keep showing up.
We are surrounded by woods and each year we have a few white avens. They are especially attractive in the spring, but usually end up on the compost pile before they produce their stick-tight seeds.
Three favorites that volunteer are wood sorrel, chickweed, and purple dead-nettle. The wood sorrel covers the ground between vegetables without being too competitive. (It is a pleasant plant that plays nice!) The latter two make wonderful ground covers in spring, winter, and fall and then become noncompetitive during the heat of summer.
I concur with your choice of ground covers. Those are great around the vegetable patch, We make way for the purslane and the shepherd's purse too, because they fade out nicely during peak growing season. It's amazing how allowing some natural cycles to happen for awhile fixes the soil without outside "help". Also some of the weed seeds store in the soil for many decades, plus, crap happens, so each year is a surprise.
Seems that the white avens (Geum canadense) has got some medicinal applications too. Plenty of tannins. The usual chocolate root is G. rivale, water avens, but some claim to get that flavor from white avens roots too, by roasting.
I’m not normal, either – I didn’t mulch anywhere for years, or pull the new unidentified plant, and was rewarded with lots of fun things: the larkspur and variegated Bishop’s weed were the best. Having moved to a new place, I did the same adventure of discovery for years: Bouncing Bet, Snow on the Mountain and purple petunia and now forget-me-nots are mainstays. I’ve found dandelions are not invasive, and let them grow a few years in garden areas before harvesting. And, although I remove aggressively, there’s never a shortage of deadnettle and hairy Bittercress, or ground ivy. A neighbor gave me a jar of raw honey, saying she’s sure my back field of weed flowers fed her bees.
Super! It’s cool to let the plants arrange themselves. Seems as though you achieved a great array of volunteers, including many that people pay plenty to have in the landscape. I hope your neighbor stays forever grateful that you’re feeding her bees. :-D
Yep weeding is selective in my garden. Or at least there are spots where I'd prefer not to have that particular weed but it's ok to leave it in another spot.
My weeds will be completely different to yours so not much point naming them. I'm coming out of the tropical wet season and the overgrowth is huge so there's a lot of competition for light. I throw papaya seeds in particular spots but they'll only grow when they get some light.
Some plants like nettle I have to cultivate by pulling back native weeds, reducing the competition, to allow it to grow.
I bet you get some giant weeds that might need a bulldozer. :-D. I like to look at Aleya’s SubStack because she features plants from the Carribean. J.P. travels all over Australia and shows us amazing plants. Am I right that you’re in the North of AU? I’m gonna start a chat called “Show Us Your Weeds”. We could see great stuff from everywhere. It’s cool to know that nettles can grow where papayas are.
Far North Queensland. I am subscribed to J.P. I'm subscribed to you because of him. I guess that's how networking works ☺️
Cooool. So you are plenty warm there. J.P. has shown us a bunch of tremendous plants, some of which look like aliens dropped them. I bet you have some great ones.
I did start a weed chat. Maybe it will bring some fun pics. https://open.substack.com/chat/posts/965ad74f-c3d2-4e1c-8603-fbb8f9ad5a93
Yes I do. It's a good jumping off point. I like that rating scale for edibility and medicine. 👍🏼