weeds vs gardening

[wareagle69]

so lydia has said something a few times aout certain plants going to seed and giving me some, something i only half listened to, but now has my full attention.
gardening takes allot of work, and yes it is neccesary to grow some things that nature does not have near by, but by far i spend more time cultivating my weeds then i do my garden and now that some are going to seed i am storing the seeds just in case i have to bug out i can be ready to plant them in my new location.
the thing i like about my wild garden tho is that it comes back all by itself and to grow it bigger i just turn up the earth around it and it spreads so well and takes so little work

[huntermj]

That garden sounds great! do you have any pictures. And maybe a list of whats in it?

[wareagle69]

well simple stuff so far, chickweed, purslane,stinging nettle,lovage, orpine,jerusualm artichoke, red mustard, winter cress,pigweed.
just transplanting milkweed now, will have to see if it takes, the dock that i transplanted wilted as soon as it was picked, very amazed at that, but the stalk and root have taken well, so maybe good for next year also the same with goats beard, died right out. oh also planted some johny jump up, that plants well
as i mentioned before i have dial up and no teck savvy so no pics

[Rick]

I've propagated purslane all over the plance. The plants put out a huge about of seeds; black about the size of pepper...maybe a bit bigger. Easy stuff to grow. You can also pinch off pieces of the plant and just stick it in the ground where ever you want it to grow and it will sprout roots and take off.

[your_comforting_company]

WarEagle's garden sounds exactly like what I want to put in my front yard to supplement the garden.
The Book I won from the picture contest last year tells a lot about how to do exactly what WE is doing. Incorporating wild plants which require little work and cultivation into your landscaping and gardens so that you create a "micro-ecosystem" that is self sustaining, beautiful, and nutritious.
I'm hoping that as I continue to learn about wild plants I will better know which ones complement each other, (like the way Fabaceae family plants fix nitrogen in the soil that can be used by leafy greens plants).
By the end of this year I hope to have wild winter greens growing in the plot and will progressively add more complementary plants as the next year progresses. I really want to get a good stand of Daucus carota growing and as WE pointed out, you can save seeds off any viable plant for use at home, which is what I've done with the carot.

We call purslane portulaca (porch-a-liker), and "moss-rose". It is a delicious raw vegetable that I munch on regularly when goofing around in the yard. I saw the years first sprouts just this weekend. Still got green stems on them and they are to die for. sweet and succulent and nothing woody at all about them yet. If you wait till later in the year, when the stem darkens, the stem will be a bit stringy.

Great Post WE. Thanks for sharing.
(you really gotta get a camera tho!!)

[Rick]

Just one bit of caution on Purslane that we've mentioned before. If you break the stem and it's milky then it's not Purslane and probably Spotted Spurge (Chamaesyce maculata). They don't look anything alike side by side but could easily be confused if you just have Spurge to look at. Puslane has a clear liquid when you snap the stem.

Here's a cool recipe for Purslane Tacos. (Pic heavy, sorry). It's pretty funny because the author talks about how expense Purslane is to buy!!!!!!! Verdolagas is Spanish for Purslane.

http://chanfles.com/comida/verdolagas/index.html

[ClayPick]

I have an old hand me down book called, “Weeds, Guardians of the Soil”. I stumbled on an online version that some might find interesting.
http://www.journeytoforever.org/farm.../WeedsToC.html

[Rick]

Wow! What a resource and some really great information. Great find. I converted that rascal to Word so I can save it. Thanks!!!

[crashdive123]

Cool reference ClayPick - thanks.

[Canadian-guerilla]

my landlady has some purslane in her garden in the back yard
to her they're weeds, to me, they're food

any tips/tricks to transplanting these purslane plants upstairs to my place ?

i'm hoping to keep them alive until they flower and then get some seeds

[Rick]

Purslane is the easiest stuff in the world. It's one of the few plants that will re-root if you break the stem. You can pick off whatever you want, put the bare stem in dirt and it will grow roots. That stuff is just hardy as heck. I've "transplanted" a bunch just by breaking off pieces and sticking it in the dirt somewhere else.

If you hoe it up in the garden trying to get rid of it all you'll do is substantially increase the number of plants because every single piece will root.

Purslane puts out pretty deep roots. Deeper than most garden plants. If you plant it with other garden plants they will follow the roots of purslane down deeper to gather moisture and nutrients not normally accessible to them. Cool huh?

[Canadian-guerilla]

I've "transplanted" a bunch just by breaking off pieces and sticking it in the dirt somewhere else.

If you hoe it up in the garden trying to get rid of it all you'll do is substantially increase the number of plants because every single piece will root.

gonna try the " pieces " thing tmmw morning
i'll put about 6 pieces in one of my DIY temporary planters

i use a cut down 2 L carton, ( on it's side ) for a temp planter

[Rick]

I started out with a single volunteer plant two or three years ago and now the stuff is everywhere. I was working in the garden today and pinching off pieces here and there munching as I worked. My wife's not all that happy about it. She has purslane growing in her flower pots. Not that I would stick a piece in there or anything.

[Canadian-guerilla]

i can't believe these aren't dead yet, maybe i don't have a gangrene thumb
there's 8 plants in this container, i may move half of them to another container

purslane catching some morning rays in my kitchen


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[Rick]

That's the stuff!! (literally). Even if you break a piece off with a seed pod the pod will continue to mature and drop the fertile seeds. Is that crazy? I don't know of any other plant that does that. The seeds resemble pepper and you'll get tons of them from just that plant. Go sow them anywhere you want and they will grow.

I was in the garden this morning and I have about a 3 foot square of new little purslane sprouts coming up. Seed must have dropped.

[wareagle69]

so the milkweed transplanted well, was not sure with all that i have heard about how hard it is to transplant it.
also my weed gardens are going great, all i do is pick an area and dig up the soil and clay churn it up then watch in the spring as excellent weeds start growing

[Ted]

Great thread W.E.! You posted this when I was on summer vacay from the puter! I have watced people weed thier gardens for years and thought your pulling the wrong stuff!LOL! This post is worthy of some rep for sure!

[wareagle69]

thanks ted
i just call it gardening for lazy people lol

[shooter_250]

i just emailed the book and the blog to my wife..she does all the landscping and gardening...i'll let you know if she tries any of the methodology...

great post..and thanks

God Bless

Lee

[canid]

there are so many edible weeds in my garden that unless they are growing out of hand [root development beats the cultivated vegies out] i don't mess too much with them.

this mostly means i pull out the grasses, wild lettuce etc. that are getting out of hand, and i tell everything up well before transplanting or direct seeding and let it go somewhat the rest of the time.