Encyclopaedia of weeds and their seedlings
February 26, 2022 12:05 PM Subscribe
The weather is warming up, so that means it's the start of the annual campaign against the many weeds that seed themselves all over our garden, which means I'll be leaning on The Seed Site a lot.
Weeds are easiest to pull up when they're small, but of course it's difficult to tell different seedlings apart; and there are plenty of plants which are welcome to seed and reseed themselves which I'd rather not uproot just as they're getting going. So, I find the weed-specific pages of The Seed Site one of my most useful gardening resources — it's got descriptions and pictures of many weed seedlings, including a reference organised by the mature plant's flower colour: white, yellow, red/pink/blue and green. I can now confidently spot Petty Spurge, Willow-Herb, Creeping Buttercup, Hairy Bittercress, and many other annoyances, before they take over completely.
And this one sentence shows the dedication to the cause this man has:
Weeds are easiest to pull up when they're small, but of course it's difficult to tell different seedlings apart; and there are plenty of plants which are welcome to seed and reseed themselves which I'd rather not uproot just as they're getting going. So, I find the weed-specific pages of The Seed Site one of my most useful gardening resources — it's got descriptions and pictures of many weed seedlings, including a reference organised by the mature plant's flower colour: white, yellow, red/pink/blue and green. I can now confidently spot Petty Spurge, Willow-Herb, Creeping Buttercup, Hairy Bittercress, and many other annoyances, before they take over completely.
And this one sentence shows the dedication to the cause this man has:
"One or two of them don't grow in my garden, so I've actually had to grow them deliberately to be able to photograph them.""
Eeeeee! Thank you!
posted by humbug at 3:31 PM on February 26, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by humbug at 3:31 PM on February 26, 2022 [1 favorite]
So many of these "weeds" are edible plants native to the UK that are also cultivated deliberately. I'm in the US, but I grow rumex (sorrel) as a beautiful and reliable salad/cooking green. Plantago lanceolata (ribwort plantain) is also nice.
Yes, I saw the bit quoted below that he wrote. It's awfully dismissive. I recognize that this gentleman is focusing on ornamental gardening rather than vegetable and herb gardening, but c'mon.
PS ~ If you have a lot of weeds and you can't control them, you might like to pretend they're wildflowers you're growing deliberately for herbal purposes. There are plenty of books on herbs and their uses, but I found 'Herbs and Healing Plants of Britain & Europe', in the Collins Nature Guides Series, a good starting point.
posted by desuetude at 3:48 PM on February 26, 2022 [2 favorites]
Yes, I saw the bit quoted below that he wrote. It's awfully dismissive. I recognize that this gentleman is focusing on ornamental gardening rather than vegetable and herb gardening, but c'mon.
PS ~ If you have a lot of weeds and you can't control them, you might like to pretend they're wildflowers you're growing deliberately for herbal purposes. There are plenty of books on herbs and their uses, but I found 'Herbs and Healing Plants of Britain & Europe', in the Collins Nature Guides Series, a good starting point.
posted by desuetude at 3:48 PM on February 26, 2022 [2 favorites]
When I think about it, "an encyclopedia of weed and its seedlings" would be a good name for the group of friends I've had since the late 80s.
posted by hippybear at 4:34 PM on February 26, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by hippybear at 4:34 PM on February 26, 2022 [3 favorites]
Sowthistle. So THAT is what that is called.
posted by johnxlibris at 4:50 PM on February 26, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by johnxlibris at 4:50 PM on February 26, 2022 [1 favorite]
Also, can I say that Petty Splurge is a truly excellent name for a weed? Sounds like something characters from Sex And The City would do. "I'm having a petty splurge this weekend."
posted by hippybear at 4:55 PM on February 26, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by hippybear at 4:55 PM on February 26, 2022 [4 favorites]
Bookmarked! And people love to hate on hairy bittercress, aka shotweed, but it’s one of my favorite early spring greens and I bring it to whichever Jewish friend’s Passover Seder I end up attending. Weeding the garden and making a salad are not mutually exclusive!
posted by centrifugal at 10:55 PM on February 26, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by centrifugal at 10:55 PM on February 26, 2022 [3 favorites]
There are definitely benefits to "weeds".
I have a garden that my neighbors admire. There are plenty of "weeds" in it.
Almost every really agressively invasive plant I have encountered has been an imported ornamental.
I am happy to see plantains, chickweed, and dandelions in my garden but the morning glories that an innocent neighbor planted? Nightmare.
Would you rather spend a few lazy hours picking dandelions flowers before they go to seed or several hours every day on your hands and knees pulling tangly strangling viny seedlings?
My point is, morning glories are the worst.
posted by RobinofFrocksley at 7:05 AM on February 27, 2022 [5 favorites]
I have a garden that my neighbors admire. There are plenty of "weeds" in it.
Almost every really agressively invasive plant I have encountered has been an imported ornamental.
I am happy to see plantains, chickweed, and dandelions in my garden but the morning glories that an innocent neighbor planted? Nightmare.
Would you rather spend a few lazy hours picking dandelions flowers before they go to seed or several hours every day on your hands and knees pulling tangly strangling viny seedlings?
My point is, morning glories are the worst.
posted by RobinofFrocksley at 7:05 AM on February 27, 2022 [5 favorites]
johnxlibris - you talking about the Evil Dandelion that seemed to suddenly be everywhere about a decade ago? I’ve made it my mission in life to keep those jerks out of my (tiny) yard. I can spot the seedlings in thick grass and instantly yank those suckers out to let them die. Dandelion, I ignore. Clover? I’ve deliberately overseeded with white clover for years. But sowthistle I will not tolerate.
Like you, I’m just now learning what it’s called, the fact that it’s non-native makes me feel better about detesting it.
(I also am hell-bent on removing plantains. Easy to find, easy to pull, my backyard generally is plantain-free. Pulling weeds is kind of therapeutic for some reason.)
posted by caution live frogs at 7:52 AM on February 27, 2022
Like you, I’m just now learning what it’s called, the fact that it’s non-native makes me feel better about detesting it.
(I also am hell-bent on removing plantains. Easy to find, easy to pull, my backyard generally is plantain-free. Pulling weeds is kind of therapeutic for some reason.)
posted by caution live frogs at 7:52 AM on February 27, 2022
I hate Bermuda grass with the heat of a thousand suns. Yeah, know the history; it was groomed as hardy feed plant. But goddam its a nightmare. I can't even compost it because the roots and stolons will survive for years.
posted by SPrintF at 11:49 AM on February 27, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by SPrintF at 11:49 AM on February 27, 2022 [2 favorites]
Morning Glories are not a pest round here - they don't sees easily and they don't survive the winter. They're sometimes grown as annuals, and their flowers are very handsome.
But - the native convolvulus, bindweed, is notorious for exactly the reasons you say RobinofFrocksley.
posted by vincebowdren at 2:34 PM on February 27, 2022 [2 favorites]
But - the native convolvulus, bindweed, is notorious for exactly the reasons you say RobinofFrocksley.
posted by vincebowdren at 2:34 PM on February 27, 2022 [2 favorites]
In the UK Lesser Celandine is beloved and people write poems about it. In my US yard it is pernicious, of no benefit to the early emerging pollinators, and also it is very very hard to control. It's already sprouting and I am filled with despair.
posted by Lawn Beaver at 3:04 PM on February 27, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by Lawn Beaver at 3:04 PM on February 27, 2022 [1 favorite]
My point is, morning glories are the worst.
My building has a yard shared by a few apartment units. Upstairs young lady was so excited to “garden” when she moved in and I offered her to ask for any advice she needed as the experienced long standing gardener in that yard. She took over a 12’ x 3’ strip of dirt to “plant wildflowers” which sounded lovely. I suggested weeding frost. NOPE.
Everyone wants to put a tomato plant in the ground a month before last frost, but nobody wants to weed. Well, what ya know, there come the morning glory seedlings in the spring, sent a pic and told her those were all morning glories, not the wildflowers she wanted. I gently suggested that she weed the area or nothing else will grow. NOPE. She just sprinkles a packet of seeds on top of everything. She even left the dead vines (now trailing through the bushes and into the alley) after last frost and they’re still there now, taunting me from my back window. That’s to say, solidarity in your morning glory hate.
posted by Bunglegirl at 5:38 PM on February 27, 2022 [1 favorite]
My building has a yard shared by a few apartment units. Upstairs young lady was so excited to “garden” when she moved in and I offered her to ask for any advice she needed as the experienced long standing gardener in that yard. She took over a 12’ x 3’ strip of dirt to “plant wildflowers” which sounded lovely. I suggested weeding frost. NOPE.
Everyone wants to put a tomato plant in the ground a month before last frost, but nobody wants to weed. Well, what ya know, there come the morning glory seedlings in the spring, sent a pic and told her those were all morning glories, not the wildflowers she wanted. I gently suggested that she weed the area or nothing else will grow. NOPE. She just sprinkles a packet of seeds on top of everything. She even left the dead vines (now trailing through the bushes and into the alley) after last frost and they’re still there now, taunting me from my back window. That’s to say, solidarity in your morning glory hate.
posted by Bunglegirl at 5:38 PM on February 27, 2022 [1 favorite]
Wow, this is a great resource! thank you!!
posted by dusty potato at 8:48 AM on February 28, 2022
posted by dusty potato at 8:48 AM on February 28, 2022
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