Still no sign of my cat so I've spent a great deal of time on walking through the neighborhood, putting up posters, and generally fretting about our loss. I apologize for this and my last post. Probably not the most interesting stuff for you to read, but it's the best I can come up with while juggling with searching for my sweet little "Powder Kitty" and getting my regular chores done. Please bear with me...
As you know, I spend a lot of
time in the garden. There are all kinds
of chores to do in a garden: planting,
watering, transplanting, pest control, weed control, and harvesting. Next
to pest control, weed control is one of the least appealing chores and I am
constantly trying to find ways to minimize the time spent in my effort to rid
the garden of weeds.
As soon as our plants are in
the garden and stable, we put grass clippings around the plants. The slow decomposition of the grass clippings
provides vital nutrients to the plants, they help keep moisture in the ground
and they help prevent weed growth. I do,
however, let some “weeds” grow on purpose.
There are even a few that I actively encourage. My April 24, 2014 post was about making dandelion wine. I also occasionally throw the young green
dandelion leaves into our salads in the spring time. They taste a bit peppery, so they add a
little zip to the salad and they’re perfectly safe to eat as long as no
pesticides have been applied to them. I
also encourage the growth of purslane in my garden; although I do try to keep
it confined to a small area until it grows to a transplant-able stage. I then re-plant it into a dedicated container
for this crop.
Many people don’t know purslane
by name, but they usually recognize it as a prolific weed when they see pictures
of it. It is a relative of moss rose,
which is a pretty little low-growing plant with brightly colored blooms. Both moss rose and purslane have fleshy succulent
leaves. If left to grow, purslane will
develop small yellow flowers and will then set seed and multiply…all over the
place. Purslane is a "Preppers" dream crop as it grows almost anywhere, is drought tolerant, extremely prolific, readily re-seeds without any help from humans, and you can eat it raw or cooked.
Purslane is very high in omega-3 fatty acids (alpha-linolenic acid or ALA). Research has shown that the typical American diet does not provide enough omega-3 fatty acids and the lack of omega-3's has been linked to such illnesses as heart disease, cancer and Alzheimer's disease. Purslane containes more vitamin E than spinach and more beta carotene than carrots. It's also rich in magnesium.
I often add purslane to salads and also use the tender, young stems on sandwiches. Sometimes I cook brown rice, add a tablespoon of butter, fresh herbs from my herb garden (sage, parsley, rosemary, thyme, and oregano) and about a quarter cup of purslane (without stems). I find this quite tasty and I like the idea of eating a meatless meal at least once a week. Charming doesn't even realize that he's eating weeds unless I tell him. If you have purslane growing in your yard or garden, give it a try...you might find that you like it, too.
Purslane is very high in omega-3 fatty acids (alpha-linolenic acid or ALA). Research has shown that the typical American diet does not provide enough omega-3 fatty acids and the lack of omega-3's has been linked to such illnesses as heart disease, cancer and Alzheimer's disease. Purslane containes more vitamin E than spinach and more beta carotene than carrots. It's also rich in magnesium.
I often add purslane to salads and also use the tender, young stems on sandwiches. Sometimes I cook brown rice, add a tablespoon of butter, fresh herbs from my herb garden (sage, parsley, rosemary, thyme, and oregano) and about a quarter cup of purslane (without stems). I find this quite tasty and I like the idea of eating a meatless meal at least once a week. Charming doesn't even realize that he's eating weeds unless I tell him. If you have purslane growing in your yard or garden, give it a try...you might find that you like it, too.
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| New purslane growing in my garden. I gently pull this up and transplant it into containers where it will grow until it's time to harvest. |
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| A container crop of purslane. I harvest from this container to get purslane for my salads, sandwiches, and rice dishes. (Oh look...on the left side of the picture...my weeds have weeds!) |
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