by Michael Smith (Veshengro)
Growing “wild edibles” may sound silly to many, I know, for you are, basically, growing then what most gardeners think as “weeds”, but there are many “weeds” that are edible, in fact, that are good to eat, very good, in fact, that that have high nutritional values. Dandelion and nettles are just two of those.
The plants of the “Rumex” family are also (mostly) edible and good eating as is chickweed and purslane.
As it is always being said that a weed is but a plant in the wrong place and in this case we actually look at bringing weeds into our gardens, in a controlled environment, to grow for food.
Aside from those mentioned above there are a fair number of other edible weeds that are very good to eat and, which, in my opinion, would be worth “cultivating”.
The thing about growing edible weeds is that they grow where other vegetables may not.
We all, I am sure, have parts in our gardens where nothing but weeds want to grow so if weeds want to grow there then it might as well be edible ones that we can control and use.
The list of edible weeds and those that can be used for medicinal purposes – they are then called medicinal herbs – is rather a lengthy one and I will not even try to list them here. Another time, maybe, we can go into deeper detail.
The will be some gardeners who will consider you, and me, somewhat strange if not slightly mental for growing weeds in our vegetable gardens rather than getting rid of them but ... as said, many edible weeds are very good for us and have great nutritional value and health benefits.
But, remember to make sure that you know exactly what weeds you are planting for food. There are some that have lookalike ones that are, in fact, poisonous.
Using edible weeds, foraging for them and growing them, can be a great addition to our diet.
© 2010
