{"id":6056,"date":"2013-06-30T18:20:43","date_gmt":"2013-06-30T08:20:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thedesertecho.com\/blog\/?p=6056"},"modified":"2014-11-04T18:28:55","modified_gmt":"2014-11-04T07:28:55","slug":"edible-weeds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thedesertecho.com\/blog\/edible-weeds\/","title":{"rendered":"EDIBLE WEEDS"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\ncompanions planting was never so easy
\n<\/h4>\n

A<\/fancyletter> Permaculture garden is the ultimate multicultural society. However, whilst diversity is encouraged in the garden that doesn’t mean Permaculturalist’s are egalitatarian, oh no not all plants are created equal, just start up a conversation about comfrey or conversely kikuyu grass and you’ll see. But a plant’s indigenous lineage doesn’t guarantee it spot in the veggie path, especially in Australia where the natives are quite mean with their nutrients, the eucalypt tree even has a nasty trick where it drops its toxic leaves on the ground to discourage competition. So in a community garden it’s not great, but as a woodchip path it is quite a good grass suppressant.<\/p>\n

Foreign plants do quite well here, they appear here there and everywhere without you having to spread a single seed and they are very hardy. Any other gardener looks on these “weeds” with bored cynacism and reaches for the round-up.<\/p>\n

Don’t judge them on those nasty rumours that Monsanto spins, they can be useful and some are edible too.<\/h4>\n
\n

DANDELION<\/h3>\n

Native to Europe and Asia, can use to loosen overgrazed, compacted pastoral soils as well as in the humblke veggie patch.<\/p>\n

Dandelion companion planting<\/a><\/p>\n

Their long deep tap roots break up hard soil and bring nutrients up from deep down to benefit shallower rooted annuals without competing for surface nutrients. They also release ethylene gas which aids in fruit ripening<\/a>, so a patch of dandelions around your late green tomatoes might be a good idea. Their bright yellow flowers attract beneficial insects such as bees to pollinate your garden.<\/p>\n

Most intriguing of all is their power to combat fusarium wilt<\/a>, a soil-borne fungal disease that effects tomatoes grown in the same soil year after year. This disease reduces health and yield of tomatoes, but dandelion roots produce an acid that starves the disease of iron.<\/p>\n

We harvest the root, peel it and use it in stirfries for a potatoey\/parsnipy substitute.<\/p>\n

Used as a nutritious salad green, benefits of dandelion include:<\/a><\/p>\n

  • high in iron, calcium, vitamin K, B6, E, K thiamin, antioxidants, beta- & alpha-carotene<\/li>\n
  • treatment for liver disease, kidney and spleen complaints, skin conditions, digestive aid<\/li>\n
  • cancer fighting properties<\/li>\n
  • acne remedy<\/li>\n

    SOW THISTLE<\/h3>\n

    Sow thistle too is said to aid growth<\/a>, but I’m slightly suss on this particular edible. There was a particularly old and serrated one in my garden bed which I brushed passed. Where it touched my skin I came up in what can only be described as a horribly itchy flea bite like rash. With a reaction that extreme I’m loathed to put it in my mouth, no matter how nutritious it is. Turns out I’m one of those unlucky people with an allergy<\/a> to the old Sow!<\/p>\n

    So this a lesson to everyone before eating any new food whether it be a weed or just an exotic fruit, test a little bit first don’t go swallowing a whole green smoothie full of it! One day I will try cooking it then doing a patch test <\/a>on my wrist first, but until then I think I will just stick to the nettles and dandelions until I’m REALLY HUNGRY!<\/p>\n

    NETTLES<\/h3>\n

    Native to Europe and Northern Africa, be heartened that when you feel its sweet sting at your ankles and merrily hop in pain that it is an indicator that your soils is oh so fertile<\/strong>, pop a tomato next door for optimum results.<\/p>\n

    This was one of the Permaculture lessons that blew my mind, Peak Oil aside, could that horrible stinging nettle that I had long called weed be a friend? <\/p>\n

    Nettle in companion planting<\/a>
    \nNettles are said to     increase disease resistance<\/a> and resilience to insect attacks. People even go so far to say it improves the flavour of its neighbours, increasing their production of aromatic oils. As a tomato companion they improve their keeping quality<\/a> by slowing down the fermentation process and for eggplants they are the ladybird’s preferred breeding ground so bad news for the resident aphids. And remember why nettles make a good mulch<\/a>?<\/p>\n

    I recommend you pick up a copy of Adam Grubb’s Weed Forager’s Handbook<\/a> to learn more, it’s really fascinating.<\/p>\n

    Nettles as edible<\/strong>
    \nEat the tender young leaves dried, blended or cooked for these benefits:<\/p>\n

  • high in antioxidants<\/li>\n
  • 40% protein by dried weight<\/li>\n
  • dense in mineral, especially calcium (for the vegan’s out there you onlyneed 150g to get your recommended daily intake)<\/li>\n
  • reduces pain of arthritis<\/li>\n
  • anti-dandruff properties<\/li>\n
  • mild hayfever remedy<\/li>\n
  • eczema remedy<\/li>\n
  • diuretic & hypotensive – reduces blood pressure<\/li>\n
  • astringent for nosebleeds and internal hemorrhaging<\/li>\n
  • detoxifying blood tonic<\/li>\n
  • reduces benign enlargement of the prostate<\/li>\n
  • add dried to chook feed, helps to protect against disease<\/li>\n

    So next time you feel tempted to pull that weed, maybe rethink the definition and pull the ornamental taking up valuable tomato space instead.<\/p>\n

    Nettles are a protected place for caterpillars to transform into beautiful butterflies.<\/h5>\n


    <\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/section>\n

    \"sow-thistle-growing-garden-permaculture\"<\/p>\n

    \"chicken-sow-milk-thistle-eating\"<\/p>\n

    \"dandelion-red-ribbed-edible-salad-palatable\"
    \nSometimes confused (by me at least \ud83d\ude09 ) with     RED RIB DANDELION<\/a> which is actually a chicory, but still a great addition to a salad!<\/p>\n

    \n\"milk-thistle-sow-edible-weed\"<\/p>\n

    \"stining-nettle-beneficial-insect-butterfly\"<\/p>\n<\/section>\n

    Butterfly metamotphosis photos taken by my clever dad<\/a><\/h4>\n

    \"admiral-butterfly-metamorphosis-chrysallis\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    companions planting was never so easy A Permaculture garden is the ultimate multicultural society. However, whilst diversity is encouraged in the garden that doesn’t mean Permaculturalist’s are egalitatarian, oh no not all plants are created equal, just start up a conversation about comfrey or conversely kikuyu grass and you’ll see. But a plant’s indigenous lineage […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":852,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[10],"tags":[294,322,34,318,205,81,284],"class_list":["post-6056","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-garden","tag-companion-planting","tag-edible-weeds","tag-gardening","tag-high-summer","tag-insects-spiders","tag-permaculture-design","tag-solanaceae-nightshades"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thedesertecho.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/pdc-merri-creek-edible-weeds.jpg?fit=660%2C495&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4l1F7-1zG","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thedesertecho.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6056","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thedesertecho.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thedesertecho.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedesertecho.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedesertecho.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6056"}],"version-history":[{"count":128,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedesertecho.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6056\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14174,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedesertecho.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6056\/revisions\/14174"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedesertecho.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thedesertecho.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedesertecho.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedesertecho.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}