edible weeds...

[myhouseisazoo]

Just curious if anyone grows what is considered weeds for eating? I have purchased several 'foraging and wild edible' books and have researched a bit into buying or finding seeds to do such a garden when my sister and I begin our garden ventures.

I'm sure it might be a weird topic but I am intrigued and interested in doing one such weed garden, since they pretty much grow under every condition ever lol

 

[Mountain Peeps]

Dandelions are the best weeds for chickens!

 

[myhouseisazoo]

Dandelions are the best weeds for chickens!

Ooh! And those are actually one of the ones I want to do too!!

 

[MrsBachbach]

Purslane grows like crazy in my garden. I didn't even plant it. That's the hardest thing to get rid of, so I don't even try anymore. It is good on salads and chickens like it too.

 

[Fluffnpuff]

I 2nd purslane.

 

[myhouseisazoo]

Cool, then two I should perhaps start with are purslane and I definatly know I wanna do dandelions :3

I know plantain ( plantango major, not the banana) might not truly be considered a weed but does anyone have luck with it and enjoy the taste?.?

 

[Fluffnpuff]

Cool, then two I should perhaps start with are purslane and I definatly know I wanna do dandelions :3

I know plantain ( plantango major, not the banana) might not truly be considered a weed but does anyone have luck with it and enjoy the taste?.?

Never tried plantain. Miners lettuce might also be worth looking into.

If you are looking online for edible weeds, sooner or later you'll find someone recommending chuffa, aka ground nut/almond, aka nut sedge. I strongly advise against using it. Chuffa or nutsedge is an invasive species that wrecks havoks on lawns, gardens, and farmland. It's almost impossible to get rid of once it is established. Another invasive species that people often suggest is Jerusalem artichokes which i wouldn't recommend either for the same reasons. If you are using container or raised bed gardening they would be more applicable, but i wouldn't plant either in my yard unless i was absolutely sure i would never need to grow something else in the future.

 

[myhouseisazoo]

Never tried plantain.  Miners lettuce might also be worth looking into.  

If you are looking online for edible weeds, sooner or later you'll find someone recommending chuffa, aka ground nut/almond, aka nut sedge.  I strongly advise against using it.  Chuffa or nutsedge is an invasive species that wrecks havoks on lawns, gardens, and farmland.  It's almost impossible to get rid of once it is established.    Another invasive species that people often suggest is Jerusalem artichokes which i wouldn't recommend either for the same reasons.   If you are using container or raised bed gardening they would be more applicable, but i wouldn't plant either in my yard unless i was absolutely sure i would never need to grow something else in the future.

I've never even heard of chuffa! That's a new one, as is the Jerusalem artichoke! Glad to be able to hear something about either though before I did go online searching. Most my wild edibles knowledge comes from a book called 'wild edibles' by Sergei Boutenko and various mushroom books I got for Christmas last year (my family camps a lot and I see a lot of cool ones! Never tried any yet but if I get a chance around season I definatly want to try!) Sergei's book is a pretty good introduction to wild edibles if anyone's interested, most the plants can be found in cities and wilderness alike easily. But I don't think my neighbors will look at me right if I just wander into their front yard
Thank you for the info out of the brooder!
Can I ask, do you currently grow miners lettuce?.? And if so what kind or genus (if you know, I'm not even sure I spelt that right) do you grow?
Again thank you!

 

[MrsBachbach]

Dandelions are the best weeds for chickens!

Those grow around my yard, but the chickens won't touch them. Strange.

 

[SweetSilver]

As for invasives, that is highly dependent on area. Jerusalem artichokes are far from weedy where I live, and I've had them in every garden I've owned for the last 20 years. That's why I disregard when people report that a certain plant "is" or "isn't" weedy!

I'd like to throw in two more authors-- Steve Brill and Arthur Lee Jacobson. Jacobson is from the Seattle area and writes more on the plants themselves (he focuses on local plants, but of course that includes many cosmopolitan species) but since he loves wild edibles, he writes freely about his experiences. For example, he suggests for English Plantain (Plantago lanceolata) to use only the tender leaves and the short, tender flower stems. He finds Broad Plantain (P. major) to be "less bitter ... [but] not choice" and again advises young leaves. On one of his tours, he expressed some dislike of plantain as an edible, compared to others available at the same time.

I adore miner's lettuce, and we have siberian miner's lettuce growing rampant in our woods, but then I also see the deer in the woods peeing all over my wild edibles, effectively curtailing my enthusiasm for harvesting some to throw on a salad! I have a few inaccessible patches.

ETA: this thread started with *growing* wild edibles, so I'd like to recommend the folks at Fungi Perfecti who offer for sale many mushroom species to grow in your garden and yard. As someone who is violently sensitive to Morels, I've grown a healthy mistrust for even edible mushroom species. Not an experience to forget!