Do you have your yard or garden full of weeds? Are you fighting hard to get rid of them? Well, maybe it is not a bad idea to know that many kinds of weeds have value and can be also beneficial to your garden and yard.
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Actually, you can name weed any plant that grow where you do not really want it to. Therefore, a “weed” maybe is not valued at its true value.
You also need to know that many plants are considered weeds but in fact, they are not only comestible, they are delicious.
Any gardener considers many weeds quite beneficial to the success of his garden. They can attract insects that are beneficial to your vegetation. They can be also ornamental.
In conclusion, not all unwanted plants in your garden are weeds. It is a good idea for you to evaluate your “weeds”. Only so you can determine if you can really call a plant a weed.
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EDIBLE “WEEDS”
It would be great to harvest weeds and use them in your kitchen to prepare delicious dishes. You need to know that many comestible weeds are very rich in antioxidants such as vitamins C and E.
Many edible weeds are great in any salad such as cress, chicory, evening primrose, dandelion, purslane, garlic mustard, pigweed, lamb’s quarter, wild garlic or watercress. You need only to pick them when they are young plants otherwise they get tougher with age.
Many other edible weeds are more tastier when cooked. Although some of them do not taste too good from beginning, you can go through two or three changes of cooking water to remove their bitterness. Many plants, such as nettle are very high in iron and calcium. You can cook it or you can use it in teas.
Groundnuts contain isoflavones and it is a favorite root crop. In fact, groundnuts contain almost three times more protein than potatoes.
Burdock is very common from Washington and California to Maine and Alabama. Their cooked leaf stalks are similar and taste even better than celery, not to mention that burdock can be a potential cancer preservative.
Evening Primrose is a plant common in most parts of Canada and U.S. Its oil can prevent premenstrual syndrome.
Violet is very high in vitamin C. You can use both flowers and leaves. It is popular in salads or soups.
BENEFICIAL “WEEDS” to GARDENS and YARDS
Weeds can be extremely beneficial to your garden or yard. They can attract insects that eat harmful insects.
Prickly Lettuce is an edible weed but not only. It attracts beneficial insects to your garden or lawn.
Milkweeds and Prostrate attract also, beneficial insects that eat destructive insects such as aphids and mites.
ORNAMENTAL “WEEDS”
There are so many “weeds” that can be considered ornamental plants such as Ornamental Grasses, Himalayan Blackberry, Black Henbane, Boucingbet, Cicory, Oxeye Daisy or Chamomille.
