dandilion
By Lori Rose
When we work in our gardens, a large part of what we do is pull weeds. What if I told you that you don’t have to pull them all? That, with what we call weeds, nature is providing us with free food? I admit that it goes against everything I have done and been taught, but over the past few years I have let some specific “volunteer plants” remain in my gardens and I love them. Here are my favorites.
Let’s start with the one everybody will recognize—the dandelion (Taraxacum officinale). A member of the daisy family, they are among the first flowers of early spring. Bees, butterflies and moths feed on them, and some birds eat dandelion seeds.
Dandelion’s biggest fault is that it spreads so easily by seeds from the fluffy white heads. They can grow in the poorest, driest soils, and they are difficult to pull out. Even a small piece of root left in the ground will re-grow. The best way to control dandelions in the garden is to pick the flowers before the seed heads form.
Found on six continents and gathered for food since pre-history, dandelions were brought to North America from Europe and Asia as a vegetable. The roots can be ground into a coffee substitute and wine can be made from the flowers. The leaves are good in salads or sautéed like spinach. Harvest dandelion leaves in early spring before the flowers bloom; after that they become quite bitter.
Dandelion greens are an excellent source of vitamins A, C, E and K, folate, iron, calcium, magnesium, potassium and antioxidants, and are more nutritious than broccoli or spinach.
Common purslane (Portulaca oleracea) is a green, leafy vegetable that can be eaten raw or cooked. It is slightly tart and can be used in many of the same ways as spinach and lettuce. It has been grown for more than 4,000 years as a food and medicinal plant and is still cultivated in many places today.
Although purslane is probably native to North Africa, the Middle East and India, it had reached North America before Columbus and was in Europe by the late 16th century. It is now naturalized in most parts of the world, both tropical and temperate.
Also known as pigweed, little hogweed, fatweed, pusley and wild portulaca, purslane is very nutritious. It is unusually high in omega-3 fatty acids and contains vitamins A and C, as well as beta-carotene, potassium, iron, calcium, magnesium and antioxidants. In fact, purslane has the highest-recorded levels of omega-3 fatty acids of any land-based plant, at only 16 calories per serving. This makes it one of the most nutrient-dense foods on the planet, calorie for calorie.
Purslane grows in full sun in almost any soil, and it prefers warm weather. It will continue to grow until the first fall frost. It is easily removed from where it is not wanted, but even small pieces left behind will take root. Seeds can remain viable in the soil for several decades.
Lambsquarters (Chenopodium album) is a member of the amaranth family, which also includes beets, chard, quinoa, and spinach. The leaves are diamond shaped, light green on the top and whitish underneath. It is a favorite among foragers, who mostly gather it for the leaves, which taste like a mild version of spinach. The leaves are high in vitamins A, B1, B2 and C, as well as in calcium, iron, and protein.
In many regions of the world, particularly in the Punjab region of India and Pakistan, people intentionally grow lambsquarters as an agricultural crop. Recent archaeological studies show that the seeds were stored and used by the American Blackfoot Indians during the sixteenth century. Lambsquarters can be found on six continents, and it can help to restore healthy nutrients to poor quality soil. This unique, edible plant spreads quickly no matter the soil condition.
Lambsquarters can be eaten raw in salads or added to smoothies and juices. Unlike other volunteer edibles, the leaves retain their mild spinach-like flavor and don’t become bitter with age. It contains some oxalic acid, so small quantities are recommended when eating it raw. Cooking removes this acid. Try it steamed or sautéed. Like many greens, lambsquarters shrinks with cooking, so pick twice as much as you need. It can also be dried, or blanched and frozen for year-round use.
Purple dead nettle (Lamium purpureum), also known as purple archangel, is a member of the mint family and will form a groundcover in early spring. Like other mints, purple deadnettle is an aggressive grower that spreads anywhere it can get a foothold. It is easy to identify with its square stems, fuzzy spade-shaped leaves and umbrella of delicate purple-pink flowers.
An important early food source for pollinators, purple deadnettle also self-pollinates, ensuring their reproduction regardless of whether they have bee visitors. They are shallow-rooted and easy to pull, but if you let them be, you can pick off the heads and sauté them in olive oil for an early spring treat. Or try them in salads, smoothies, stir-fries or soups. When the weather heats up, they will yellow and wither, waiting for the cooler days of fall before reemerging, leaving room in the garden to plant summer blooming annuals.
Purple deadnettle is not only a wild edible green, but a highly nutritious superfood. The leaves are edible, and the purple tops are a little bit sweet. It is highly nutritious–like any other dark leafy green, it is high in vitamins A, C and K, iron, calcium, magnesium, manganese, and fiber.
Jewelweed (Impatiens capensis) is not a food source for humans, but hummingbirds absolutely adore it. Even a small patch of jewelweed will keep a hummingbird busy for long enough that you can spot it before it zips away.
A self-seeding annual, jewelweed grows two to five feet in height. It has thick, succulent stems, shallow roots and tiny bright orange flowers. Seedlings sprout in early spring and reach maximum size by August. The seedlings are easy to recognize as their first leaves are quite large and almost round. Seedlings are usually found in clumps rather than one here and one there. They flower in mid-summer, and the plants will yellow and die in fall.
Jewelweed likes moist, semi-shady areas and grows throughout northern and eastern North America. Jewelweed has a long history of use in Native American medicine. If there is poison ivy or poison oak in your yard, jewelweed is the antidote. Sap from the crushed stems and leaves can relieve the itching and pain, and the sap has also been shown to have anti-fungal properties and can be used to treat athlete’s foot.
Jewelweed plants and flowers are attractive, and so are the hummingbirds, bees, and butterflies that come to sip the flower nectar.
As with any plants you plan to eat, these volunteers should only be consumed if they are gathered from uncontaminated soil suitable for growing food plants. Maybe this season, leave the weeds and let them grow until they are easily identified. Then you and the bees, butterflies and hummingbirds can enjoy some free food. And don’t worry, there will be plenty of other weeds to pull.
Lori Rose, the Midnight Gardener, is a Temple University Certified Master Home Gardener and member of GardenComm: Garden Communicators International. She has gardened since childhood and has been writing about gardening for over twenty years.