Weed Guide
Garden Weeds
Weeds are plants we didn’t mean to plant in a particular spot. They take up valuable space, nutrients and sunshine that we’d rather have for plants we want to grow. Some are more persistent than others while some are kind of pretty or even edible. Not all weeds look the same, so it is important to remember that Weeds come in different shapes and sizes. Some weeds even take the appearance of plants.
“When weeding, the best way to make sure you are removing a weed and not a valuable plant is to pull on it. If it comes out of the ground easily, it is a valuable plant.”
Lambs quarters
Leaves are edible; older leaves have white undersides.
Do not compost when plants have developed seeds.
Crabgrass
Pull young seedlings from moist soil, or cultivate when the soil is dry.
Mow weedy areas near the garden to reduce the reseeding of crabgrass.
Curly Dock
Anchored by a branched taproot.
New green leaves that emerge in spring often are tinged with red.
A tall seed stalk appears in the summer and dig out mature plants with a digging fork.
Dock
Appears in the garden in large spreading groups.
It is a coarse-leaved plant that has deep, branching taproots, which will keep regrowing after being hoed out or lightly dug up.
Mullein
Mullein rosettes are easy to pull up since they have shallow roots. They have soft leaves and are sometimes called “Lamb’s Ears.”
In their second year, they send up a tall central stalk crowned with yellow flowers in midsummer.
Nutsedge
Hand-pulling is the most effective way to remove this weed.
These plants will often break off at the soil surface allowing regrowth and tuber development to continue so be sure to remove the entire root. Look for the small “nut” in the root.
Purslane
Young leaves and stems are edible. Tiny flowers at stem tips quickly give way to seedpods.
They can remain in soil for years so pull young seedlings or cultivate older plants with a shovel on hot, sunny days.
Queen Anne’s Lace
It is biennial, which means it will live for two years. It will spend the first year growing bigger and then bloom the second year. It’s seedlings look just like carrots, as it’s in the same family and also has a tap root like a carrot.
Pigweed
They have pinkish-red roots.
Some pests eat pigweed so gardeners will leave them as a distraction from eating the vegetables and pull them out before they produce seeds.
Shepherd’s Purse
Young plants are easy to pull and are good for composting.
Wood Sorrel
The plant has heart-shaped leaves, folded through the middle, that occur in groups of three atop a reddish brown stalk.
Leaves are edible and tasty. Although they look similar to clovers, they are not related.
Quack Grass
Quackgrass spreads by underground rhizomes - thick white roots that grow along just under the soil surface. It has thin, flat, bright ashy green leaf blades. The creeping rhizomes are so tough they can grow through a potato tuber, or push up through asphalt pavement.