Weed Hugger

I must confess:  I love the weeds in my garden.  In fact, there are mostly wild things growing there interspersed by a few 'plants'.

Weeds are tough.  Last summer, during the drought, I was happy to have the bindweed for its flowers and the lambs quarters for my soups. Zero maintenance as opposed to OMG everything will die if it's not watered every day.

Weeds bring native pollinators and native predators of garden pests. There was once a large bright green caterpillar eating tomato plant leaves. He developed white, squirming, 3-d  polka dots which day by day got bigger as he appeared to shrink . A caterpillar wasp had laid eggs on him;  the larvae  fed on their living host.

Last Sunday I went on Steve Brill's wild food tour  in Pennypack Farm and learnt to identify more wild edibles besides lambs quarters, purslane, dandelions, chickweed, wineberries, blackberries, mulberries and tradescantia. Now my diet includes:  mile-a-minute, wood sorrel, smartweed, burdock root and field garlic.  

For those interested in learning more about edible 'weeds' I recommend Green Deane's videos on youtube and his website, eattheweeds.com. If you live in Philly, contact Lynn Landes at wildfoodies.org.

So think twice before you pull out that weed!
Kathleen Browning