Weeds schmeeds!

[Allison]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_beneficial_weeds

Ever since I was a little girl and my father wouldn't allow me to blow the fuzz off of dandelions I have not understood the problem with weeds. Sure, I'd help my parents weed their garden and I get that the weeds can take water and nutrients away from the vegetables. But who cares if your lawn is covered in beautiful yellow or fuzzy white dandelions? (yes, I love dandelions. A lot.) So I vowed to never stop my children from blowing the fuzz off of a dandelion and making a wish. My husband cringes a little when they do it but hasn't made a big deal over it.

Anyway, I go online today to look up pictures of blackberry bushes because even though we have a ton I'm not sure what they look like when they are young. Well, I find out very quickly that blackberry bushes are also considered weeds. Blah! We feast on black berries each summer--raised without pesticides and FREE to us in our own back yard. And now I find that some people consider them nasty weeds?? Whatever.

Also, included in the list of weeds is clover. I love clover!

[canadiyank]

Weeds definitely have a negative connotation but mostly things are "weedy" b/c they're invasive. Where I grew up they have this terrible invasive weed that is really gorgeous (see a pic here (http://www.empirelights.com/empirelights07_026.htm)) but it is completely obliterating all the native plants. It's devastating to see acres and acres of the stuff crowding out the natives. :( Just did a bit of research and found it's detrimental to elk and deer b/c it's enroaching on their grazeland, too.

I like clover, too...my dad taught me to suck the "honey" out of the big purple ones when I was a kid, but I don't see that type around here much.

[Hermana Linda]

:yes3 My parents house, where I grew up, is infested with blackberries. They are tasty, but have taken over so much of the property as to be a nuisance. Also, they are prickly, so we can only eat the berries on the outside of the area. Really, they have taken over most of the yard. :yes2

[Macky]

I'm all for live and let live unless the plant is going to threaten my family's winter supply of vegetables. When your garden isn't just a hobby and you depend on it to fill your freezer for the winter, then yeah, it's all out war on anything but what I planted. Beneficial is definitely a relative term. That said, we don't do squat with weeds in the yard besides mow them. Our "lawn" is really only a bit of an old hay field that has been mowed for so many years that it resembles a lawn. It's mostly grass, but there's all sorts in there. Trick is just to not let them go to seed! Oh and "dandilions break up hard soil" is wishful thinking. I just dug 3 gallons of the wretched things from only a few square feet of the garden last week and it was effort just getting the spade into the ground. Sometimes I wonder how those myths get started.

[Teacher Mom]

I love dandelions! It may sound funny, but I never knew that the yellow flowers turned into the white seeded flowers until after I was married and moved out to the country!!! My father never had dandelions in his manicured yard!!! I never knew. I think they are a very pretty flower actually. I could care less about spreading them because I think they look so pretty all across the open grass. My kids like them and pick me beautiful bouquets of them (smile). I actually love driving the riding lawnmower through them and having the seeds fly everywhere. There is a certain sense of rebellion in me. I remember my father telling me years ago that they had "stuff" I could put on my lawn to get rid of those weeds. I was shocked!!! I think they are so pretty!

I like the goldrod, I think is what it's called. It is a "weed" that grows in the field and I have dug it up and put it in my flower garden. Clover??? How can you not like clover? We planted acres of it for horses. It looks so pretty when in bloom.

One man's weed is anothers man's treasure!

[mamaKristin]

I hate dandelions. :shifty Mainly because they make the grass so icky for bare feet, the leaves can be *so sharp*. We have an empty lot next to us, and the people behind us (who just sold their house) were really old and unwell, and neither lot was well maintained....guess who couldn't win with the dandelions. :/

[Rea T]

Ahh, clover. Can't remember when I saw that last, especially the big purple ones.

DH just went out and sprayed the dandelions. He threatened to get a lawn care company to come in next year just once to put toxic chemicals weed killer on our lawn. We'll fight that battle next year. (Not in the vicinity of my semi-organic garden you won't, mister.)

[Marielle]

love 'em here too. Anything that's semi green and can be mowed is more than welcome to remain in the yard. We haven't done chemical pesticides in years and today I saw a ladybug in my yard which was great to see.

I'm the adult freak who blows those fuzzy seed pods and taught my kids. I'm sure the neighbors love us. :D

[Rea T]

So, today I was at the local garden center buying a few flowers for my pots out front. I saw this one really pretty leafy thing with a latin name called 'Dark Dancer'. The leaves looked like clover leaves, except dark green with beautiful purple towards the center. The tag said 'beautiful green foliage with white flowers in summer. Plant in borders, pots, etc. Can be invasive.' I thought it would be really pretty in my pots, something different. As I was putting it in the pot I thought "You know, this looks too much like clover, I wonder what's behind that fancy latin name." So I looked at the back, and sure enough in small print, guess what I just spent $3 on?
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White Clover! :roll The stuff that grew all over my lawn when I was a kid.

[Teacher Mom]

:P~