A weed is just a plant growing in the wrong place – a plant which, in many cases, could be used ease indigestion, fight the flu, treat poison ivy rashes and even make a tasty meal. They may mar otherwise perfect mats of green grass, but many weeds are chock full of vitamins, minerals and surprising healing abilities. So why throw away the medicine cabinet and free food in your yard? Check out the benefits of these 10 weeds including yarrow, purslane and kudzu.

(Of course, don’t consume any wild plants if you’re not 100% positive you’ve identified them correctly. This article is not a substitute for a good plant identification book.)

Dandelion

With its long, strong taproot, the humble dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) is no favorite of those seeking a weed-free lawn. But not only does it have rather pretty little yellow flowers, it’s a nutritional and medicinal powerhouse. When young, its trademark saw-toothed leaves are a delicious addition to spring salads and can also be sauteed as a vegetable. They’re rich in vitamin A, vitamin C, folate and calcium. The flowers are also edible.

If you let your dandelions grow strong and proud, you’ll end up with large roots that can be harvested and dried as a medicinal supplement. Used commercially in many detox formulas, dandelion root acts as a powerful diuretic and kidney and liver cleanser.

Chickweed

Starry white flowers with cleft petals, dainty pairs of fuzzy green leaves and purple stems identify the star chickweed plant, which – along with its relatives common chickweed and mouse chickweed – is a great source of vitamins A, D, B complex and C. It’s also packed with minerals like iron, calcium, potassium and zinc. Chickweed (Stellaria media) has a delicate cornsilk-like flavor when eaten raw, and tastes like spinach when cooked.

Chickweed can also be finely chopped and applied externally to soothe irritated skin. An infusion made by steeping ¼ cup in a cup of boiling water for 15 minutes has benefits similar to dandelion root.

Yarrow

Tall and stately, yarrow (Achillea millefolium) bears fuzzy fern-like foliage and bouquets of tiny white or yellow flowers. Some of its other names, including Nose Bleed, Staunchweed and Bloodwort hint at one of its most prized abilities – slowing down bleeding. Found in meadows, pastures and roadsides across America, yarrow has long been used in herbal medicine not just for wound care but to increase appetite, ease indigestion and fight colds and flu.

The fresh leaves can be used as a compress with a little warm water, or even chewed up and applied to wounds if you’re out hiking or camping. A teaspoon of the dried leaves, added to a cup of boiling water and allowed to steep for 10 minutes, is said to reduce fever and help clear the sinuses.

Stinging Nettle

It looks harmless enough, but once you make the mistake of touching stinging nettle (Urtica dioica) with your bare hand, you’ll never do it again (unless you have arthritis – but more on that in a minute). This plant – often found growing near water – has a piercing sting with tiny needle-like hairs infused with several painful chemicals. But once it’s cooked, soaked in water or dried, the fibers are disarmed and the plant can be used both medicinally and as food.

Anemia, internal bleeding, eczema, bladder infections, prostate enlargement and bronchitis are just a few of the conditions that are often treated with nettle in dried leaf, tincture or tea form. But believe it or not, some people intentionally apply raw nettle leaves to arthritic joints to relieve pain. Scientists believe that it reduces levels of inflammatory chemicals in the body, interfering with pain signals.

And even if you don’t want to eat it, nettle can be a big help in a surprising way: as an extremely effective liquid fertilizer for the garden. Get an easy tutorial on its preparation from SeasonalGardener.com.

Jewelweed

If you make the unlucky mistake of brushing up against some poison ivy, don’t wander off – your savior is likely just a few yards away. Jewelweed (Impatiens capensis) often grows in the same areas as poison ivy and can be used as its antidote. A substance called lawsone in jewelweed actually binds to urushiol oil, the component in poison ivy that’s so irritating, preventing it from binding with the proteins in your skin.

Jewelweed is typically the main ingredient in poison ivy soaps and creams, but you can simply chop up some of the stems and leaves, boil them until the liquid is orange and then freeze the strained liquid in an ice cube tray for quick, soothing relief.

Plantain

It’s not exactly pretty, but for the plantain (plantago) growing out of the crack in your sidewalk or the edge of your garden bed, it’s what’s on the inside that counts. This perennial weed (different from the banana-like plant of the same name) has a low-lying rosette of dark green oval leaves and cylindrical flower spikes, which produce seeds and seed husks used as the main ingredient in psyllium laxatives.

Mucilage is the magic word when it comes to plantain’s effectiveness. This slippery substance – contained within the entire plant – relieves sore throats and inflammation in the digestive tract. Plantain also has antibacterial properties, healing as it soothes. For colds and flu, add a tablespoon of fresh or dry plantain seed heads and leaves to a cup of boiling water, steep for 10 minutes, strain and drink several times daily.

Purslane

Want to add some more of those all-important Omega-3 fatty acids to your diet? Go out in your yard, snip some purslane (Portulaca oleracea) and add it to a salad. This succulent plant is commonly found in warm, temperate regions of the U.S. and around the world, and has been used historically as a remedy for arthritis and inflammation in Chinese medicine.

Purslane has more beta-carotene than spinach and can be used in much the same way in salads, pasta dishes, burritos, stews – just about any savory dish. It has a juicy, chewy texture and a mild sweet-and-sour flavor.

Peppergrass

Found in fields and roadsides in virtually every state of the union and much of Canada, “peppergrass” (Lepidium virginicum) is in the mustard family and has a flavor similar to that of arugula.  Sometimes called “poor man’s pepper”, peppergrass leaves can be eaten raw in salads or used to season soups and stews. The peppery flavor diminishes with cooking, so add it at the last minute.

Mullein

Got bronchitis? One of the best things you can reach for isn’t in your medicine cabinet, but growing outside your window. Mullein resembles the ornamental plant known as lamb’s ear, with soft fuzzy leaves that grow in a rosette pattern and tall stalks of flowers that can be yellow or white.

Mullein leaves are an expectorant, stimulating coughing to clear congested lungs. The dried leaves can be taken as tea or in capsules to treat a number of respiratory ills including athsma, and oil made with the flowers is a natural remedy for ear infections.

Kudzu

Anyone who has ever taken a drive through the South has seen the tenacious beast that is kudzu (Pueraria lobata). This vine was introduced to the U.S. from its native Japan to help control soil erosion, but quickly overtook everything in its path from trees to entire buildings. It’s a menace that can grow up to a foot a day during the summer, but at least it has a few good uses.

Kudzu, “the vine that ate the South”, is related to peas and the tender shoots take on the flavor of whatever they’re cooked with. The root, dried and pulverized, is used in place of cornstarch to thicken soups and gravies. Some people even fry the leaves and eat them like potato chips.

It has also been used in Chinese medicine for centuries to treat a host of ills including dysentery, allergies, migraines and diarrhea and it’s currently being researched for use in Western medicine as a treatment for alcoholism.

Images: Muffet, Calliope, The Equinest, Mick E. Talbot, Wikimedia Commons, Bob Richmond, Wikimedia Commons, Wikimedia Commons, Wikimedia Commons, Wikimedia Commons, Kitten Wants

The post From Coughs to Colds, These Common Backyard Weeds Offer a Medicinal Boost appeared first on EcoSalon.

“Are you worried about the economy? If so, pay close attention, because in an economic meltdown, non-hybrid seeds could become more valuable than even silver and gold.”

That almost makes sense…until you discover these words came out of the mouth of a pitchman selling $150 packages of seeds in between Glenn Beck’s inveterate weeping about socialism-fascism-Nazism-[insert ism of choice]ism and Hawaiian birth certificates, and things take a turn for creepy.

Fear is a powerful motivator, and when millions of people across the country are waiting for Armageddon, advertising a “Survival Seed Bank” on the Glenn Beck show could be a slick business move.

The Survival Seed Bank website pushes the fear even further: “You don’t have to be an Old Testament prophet to see what’s going on all around us. As the meltdown progresses, one of the first things to be affected will be our nation’s food supply. Expect soaring prices along with moderate to severe shortages by spring. If you don’t have the ability to grow your own food next year, your life may be in danger.”

And yet – when you peel away the layers of paranoia and b.s., what this comes down to is motivating people to take control of their own food supply. In that sense, “˜crisis gardens’ aren’t all that different from the green movement that encourages one to grow whatever food one can at home. While the bogeyman for Glenn Beck viewers is a liberalism-delivered (I think that’s the right ism) apocalypse, for us it’s mammoth corporations destroying the environment while shoveling toxic Franken-food into our mouths.

The key here is for people not to hoard seeds until that fabled day when the sky falls, but to actually plant them. We can all benefit from the pleasure of eating more fresh-from-the-garden foods that don’t have to travel further than a few yards to our plates. Plant heirloom seeds, gather the seeds produced by those crops every season, and you’ll have more than enough to tuck some away for a rainy day.

You’ll be better off selecting your own heirloom seeds from a source like the Seed Savers Exchange than funding a Glenn Beck advertiser, but even the Survivalist Seed Bank sells heirloom varieties.

Image: OakleyOriginals

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Are lawns going the way of the Noughties? First Lady Michelle Obama replaced part of the White House lawn with an organic vegetable garden, and it seems the rest of the country is poised to follow suit – edible front yards have been called the biggest gardening trend of 2010. It’s no wonder – fresh, homegrown vegetables are a far better use of energy and resources than a useless swath of grass.

And though ugly patches of dirt, ratty row covers and wire tomato cages can sometimes make front yard vegetable gardens the horticultural equivalent of a busted car on cinder blocks, it doesn’t have to be that way.  You can please a picky neighbor, satisfy your own aesthetic standards and feed your family all at once with these beautiful edible landscaping methods.

Murder the Grass and Mulch, Mulch, Mulch

If you’ve got visions of backbreaking labor, rented heavy equipment and weed-killing chemicals dancing in your head, relax. For once, the easiest way is in fact the best way. All you have to do is break down brown cardboard boxes, lay them on your lawn with the edges overlapping, soak them with water and cover them with two inches of weed-free compost and an inch or two of mulch. Sustainable Gardening Australia has all the details on this simple, sustainable process.

While it does take a while for the cardboard to break down and the grass to die, you can begin planting right away. Just cut holes in the cardboard where you want to insert plants, or dig up small areas where you’ll be putting in garden beds.

Landscape with Attractive Edibles

There’s no rule that says you have to plant vegetables in neat little rows like a farmer. Why not plant edibles in patterns that are not just biologically appropriate, but visually stimulating?

If you’re already a gardener, but have focused on ornamental plants rather than edibles, you probably already have flowerbeds in your yard. An easy way to test the waters with gardening for food is to simply replace some of those pretty but inedible plants with fruits, vegetables and herbs. Plant lavender and strawberries instead of flowers, kale and cabbage in place of hostas, carrots and chives rather than ornamental grasses. Tuck nasturtiums and marigolds in with your tomatoes and cucumbers to provide a touch of color and some ground cover to boot.

This method doesn’t just preserve the aesthetics of your yard – and allow you to keep a portion of your lawn, if you wanted to – it can also be beneficial to the plants you grow. Check out this companion planting chart to see which crops work together and Treehugger’s gallery of gorgeous edibles, and go from there.

Make Raised Beds for Visual Interest

So what if you don’t have the greatest soil for gardening? Clay, sand and rocky soil can pose a problem for gardeners who want to get started growing food as soon as possible, because amending soil takes time. But there’s a quick, simple solution that’s also easy on the eyes: raised beds.

Raised garden beds can go right on top of existing soil and lawn, and they’ve got a lot of advantages over planting right in the ground. They warm up quickly in the spring, drain easily, keep weeds out, raise the planting area for gardening ease and give you a lot of control over the type of soil used for particular plants.

Raised beds can be made from all sorts of materials from corrugated tin to cinder blocks, but many people simply use 2″x6″ cedar or pressure-treated wood boards to create custom boxes filled with layered cardboard, mulch, compost and soil. Surrounded by stone or mulch paths, these compact little gardens can add a lot of visual interest to your yard.

Images credits:

(Top) Edible Estates Regional Prototype Garden #6: Baltimore Maryland,” 2008
Commissioned by The Contemporary Museum Baltimore – Photo by Leslie Furlong

(Third down) Edible Estates Regional Prototype Garden #4: London, England,” 2007
Commissioned by Tate Modern – Photo by Fritz Haeg

Green Garden Vienna and  Hortulus

The post 2009, the Year the Lawn Died appeared first on EcoSalon.

Remember the saying “there’s no such thing as a free lunch”? Ain’t exactly true, especially if you get on board and participate in the National Garden Commission’s One Million Gardens campaign. They’ve teamed up with Edible Gardens to  give away a free assortment of heirloom seeds in celebration of National Gardening Month this April. (And now that you know growing vegetables is easy, you’re out of excuses.)

A handful of these seeds and you could turn your backyard into a mini-food farm, even growing enough to feed the family and invite the neighbors over for lunch. It will take a little time and effort, but the results will be worth it.

All you have to do is register at onemilliongardens.com and they will send you a seed packet containing  4-6 varieties of  heirloom veggies to plant. The site also provides a 52-week online course on backyard gardening, with videos, tips, a social network, free gardening supplies and updates on related events.

The aim of the One Million Gardens campaign is to have a million urban courtyards and backyards growing food gardens by 2012.

Why not help them achieve it?

P.S. Bring out that green thumb with the complete guide to composting and tips for healthy soil.

Image: net_efekt

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