What edible weeds/volunteers are you starting to discover this season?

[RosieTR]

We found a whole bunch of volunteer or wild carrots in the yard today, and ascertained that they are not poison hemlock. So, yay! We'll be consuming them as we weed them :-) No idea how they got there-possibly someone planted carrots at some point and let them go to seed and they just reseeded. I'm hoping some purslane shows up but we'll see. Last year my parents had some so I'll snitch theirs if we don't get any.
There's of course plenty of dandelions to start picking as well. Haven't noticed lambs ear though. We'll see about the sunflowers too...I think it's too early to see them yet but we usually have lots of volunteers from a planting several years ago followed by lots of bird scatter.
How about you-any forgotten/edible weed/unexpected volunteers in your yard?

[Blackdog Lin]

Funny you should ask. We've been at our current property almost 19 years and have never found any wild edibles (well, we have plenty of dandelions), but just last week I saw a clump of what looked like onion tops. Plucked one up and ..... wild garlic! I'll remind DH not to mow them over and we'll see what we end up with as they mature.

Enjoy your carrots!

[jania]

I've been finding globe mallow has spread into the back yard which is all good for me. A new wildflower also arrived within my seasonal African Daisy bloom (I'm not sure of the name yet) and I left it alone hoping the seed will spread and I'll have more next year.

Oops! Sorry, nothing edible that I've discovered yet.

[Jemima]

I'm just learning to identify edible wild plants, so aside from dandelion and purslane I'm not sure what-all is in the yard.

While not wild, there are large spreading juniper bushes beside the front steps and I recently found out that the berries have lots of medicinal uses. Now I have to find out how to dry and powder them. Any help here would be appreciated.

[peggy]

Every year i look at the cattail and say I really should eat some. Well, this year i will. Within a few weeks I can cut some of the canes and peel and eat the heart. I've actually chewed on one before, kind of tastes like a mild cucumber. I expected it to taste muddy but not at all. I'm also watching for the annual patch of goosefoot. I've never eaten it but again, this year I will.

[herbgeek]

Lot of weeks coming up, but I can't identify most of them. The ones I do know are dandelion and chickweed. I usually get purslane later in the season when its warm. I have a lot of plantain in the lawn, as well as violets (which I think are pretty). I intentionally plant clover, which some consider a weed, because I don't have to mow it and it adds nitrogen to the soil for the grass to use.

As far as volunteers, there are always chives coming up in odd places, and some valerian is coming up in the area where it used to be 2 years ago.

[leslieann]

I wish I knew more. Can anyone recommend a handbook or something? I guess it would have to be specific to my location.

[herbgeek]

Peterson guides are pretty good. I have one on edible/medicinal plants.

[CathyA]

I need to find out if garlic mustard plants are edible. If they are.........we have about 1,000,000 salads worth of it!
Jemima.......I think juniper berries can be used as a garnish in some meat dishes.
Stinging nettle is edible if you get it very young. I don't have the courage to try it. haha

[herbgeek]

Yes, garlic mustard is edible! Also can be sauteed like spinach. Stinging nettle doesn't have any sting if you dry it or cook it, although I will say I've only dried it for tea, not used it like spinach. I do wear gloves and long sleeves. At least after the first time I discovered it growing wild as a foundation weed and picked it. Yow-eeee! Has a flavor reminiscent of black currant. Very good against allergies.