Letting "weeds" grow?

[Tylluan Penry]

Re: Letting "weeds" grow?

Just stay away from the dreaded Japanese Knotweed.....

[Bjorn]

Re: Letting "weeds" grow?

Nettles. SO damned delicious. Lightly steamed and the spines are no longer harmful - harvest with gloves though. They don't call 'em 'stinging' for nothing.

Lamb's Quarter. It is also delicious. You can eat it raw, as I prefer it. Make it into a salad, put it on my sandwiches, I love it.

[DanieMarie]

Re: Letting "weeds" grow?

Ohhhh yeah I learned the lesson about stinging nettles the hard way! I didn't know what was there at first so I pulled one a couple of years ago. OUCH.

I hope I get Lamb's Quarter! I've read good things about it....it's apparently really nutritious. I'm not -quite- sure how to identify it though.

[thalassa]

Re: Letting "weeds" grow?

Danie, this or this might help...

...and this is amusing.

Something that *might* interest you, is seeing if there are any native plant or wildflower groups in your area. Over here, almost every state has multiple native plant associations (usually every region has their own)...it depends on how active they are and such, but they usually take local hikes and trips and its a good way to learn to identify local plants.

[DanieMarie]

Re: Letting "weeds" grow?

Oh yeah, great idea!
I actually saw a post from this local online magazine about that...there is a sort of nature society here and they do a workshop/walk a couple of times a month for 5 Euro (which goes to help "green" projects in the city) to identify local plants. Mostly in the city I wouldn't try to eat anything (haha) but the idea is that you can collect things from the forests around the city (and I guess "weeds" in my garden and courtyard as well!)
We're lucky too because we have a number of fruit trees growing in the city, and I got this link wayyyy back with a site that hooks up with google maps to tell you where they are. It also gave a reference to the laws, which is that you're supposed to only pick as much as you can eat, but I think picking, say, a small bag of cherries or a few apples wouldn't violate that. And the ones I've seen, most people don't even touch them and the fruit just drops to the ground and rots. I was even wondering if I could ask city permission to go pick it and give it to the food bank because it just seems a shame and then it's more work for the city cleaners anyway.
Thanks for the links