Before you spray those weeds...

[ChanellG]

Have you tried looking on the "Eat the Weeds " webpage ? I love that website...

I really love my dandelions, and have added some to my green smoothies, but I like them a lot better as cooked greens, with just a dab of meat, and maybe some onions and carrots, and other mixed greens like spinach or turnip greens.

I've never heard of that site! Can you post the link for the rest of us?

Someone I know posted something to Facebook today about dandelions. There was a comment about getting culinary dandelion and I asked what the difference was. Someone shared a link that also mentioned look-alike plants so now I am thinking it may be best to start with seeds.

Are you growing cultivated dandelion or just gathering the wild stuff?

 

[happyflowerlady]

I've never heard of that site! Can you post the link for the rest of us?

Someone I know posted something to Facebook today about dandelions. There was a comment about getting culinary dandelion and I asked what the difference was. Someone shared a link that also mentioned look-alike plants so now I am thinking it may be best to start with seeds.


Here is the link for the Eat the Weeds webpage, and for YouTube, just type in either eat the weeds, or green dean, and it will come right up.
The dandelion that I am using is what is growing wild out in the back pasture. I go out and get a sampling of things to add to my salads from the back yard .
I was just reading that red clover blossoms are good to stop pain, and I have a bunch growing out back, so I picked the blossoms and snipped the edges off and into my salad today. The little red blossom bits looked pretty in there with the mix of lettuce, dandelions, and red mustard greens, and it tasted good, too.

http://www.eattheweeds.com

 

[ChanellG]

Thanks! The site looks familiar, I could swear I was on that wild onion page recently. There are some plants that grow wild here that look like they could be a wild onion; when I was a kid I used to pull the flower and chew on it (which is kind of hilarious since I didn't like onion then).

I happened to lean over recently near the flowers and the smell was amazing! I plucked all the ones I could find and stuck them in water in a bottle. They lasted for several days and even seem now to be producing a seed. I was thinking I should have dug up the base of the plant to see if there was an onion or at least placed a marker so I could check it later. Of course now the idiots who cut the grass have removed all traces of the plant - the same idiots who hit one of my potted poinsettias with a weed whacker! (Grrrr!)

 

[headfullofbees]

They also provide an environment which will sustain mycorrizhal fungi until you plant your next crop/flowers.

 

[ChanellG]

They also provide an environment which will sustain mycorrizhal fungi until you plant your next crop/flowers.

Care to elaborate on that? Maybe if you could explain it to us, people might actually see a benefit. I assume this is something that you were trying to say is beneficial?

 

[happyflowerlady]

If I remember right, you are in Louisiana, correct ? I am in Alabama, so you may well have the same type of wild onions down there as we have up here.
There is a small onion that comes out in the fall and grows all winter, and is just now starting to die out for summer. It is small and round, and grows maybe a foot tall. It as little onion bulbs on the bottom if you dig them out. Usually don't bother, I just go out with the scissors, and snip off the tops to use like you would chives.
Now that I have discovered the Ramps, I have pretty much neglected the little onions, and harvested Ramps instead, but they are both great in soups and stews.

 

[ChanellG]

Yes, I am. I don't know if we have ramps here, and I've heard all kinds of pros and cons about foraging. If I had the time I'd like to take one of those workshops that teaches you how to identify wild edible plants. I am tempted to start gathering dandelion greens, but the more I read, the more I want to get seeds to start from first.

 

[ChanellG]

Since the subject has come up again, I'm going to bump this thread in order to get the information already shared back in circulation again for the new folks who have recently joined and started posting to the forum. "Weeds" are not always bad.

 

[gmckee1985]

Did not know this! Thanks for sharing. You seem to have a lot of good tips and a lot of information that more novice gardeners don't have. Your posts have been a real blessing to me and I'm sure to others here. Hope you stick around.

 

[DancingLady]

I don't usually pull dandelions unless I am going to roast the root for medicinal tea. I just pull off the leaves and eat them. When they are small they taste pretty good, but when they are big they are rather bitter and need to be wilted or sauted to get rid of the bitterness. I also keep some plantain because it is an excellent topical treatment for bee sting.

 

[ChanellG]

Did not know this! Thanks for sharing. You seem to have a lot of good tips and a lot of information that more novice gardeners don't have. Your posts have been a real blessing to me and I'm sure to others here. Hope you stick around.

Thank you! I have gardened in some way since childhood, but I am constantly learning just like everyone else. Right now I am actually doing some research into herb yields for a new project I am working on. I'm trying out lettuce, shard and kale for the first time also. It's a great adventure getting to garden!