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I notice that when I weed my garden, I only weed out the inedible weeds.
Weeds that are never edible I weed out immediately, especially perennials with rhizomes like grass or morning glory.
Weeds that I don't want many of I weed out when before they go to seed, like shepherd's purse or plantain.
Weeds that I especially like I leave tons of. Most of the leafy ones I weed out after they're done being tasty, but every two years or so I leave one or two extra nice specimens that have good eating properties to go to seed (like lamb's quarters). Something like pineappleweed where they pretty much need to go to seed to be good I try to ride that line between pulling them before too much seed falls and leaving them long enough to harvest some. Sometimes I'll leave a corner of my garden for a patch of something like pineappleweed. I leave dandelions if they're in a good greens location.
I will definitely pull weeds that look like they're going to crowd/moisture-rob/overshadow high-value crops.
In spring, when plants that will become huge are still little, I like to have a little something tasty growing between them. Weeds serve that function for me. My weeding strategy is designed with this in mind. I'm working on a spring "scattering mix" to add some chicory, radishes, cilantro, parsley, calendula, leaf or mini lettuces, arugula, shungiku, kale, purslane, chard, borage, dill, that sort of thing. My hope is to eventually have a solid seed bed for these tasty quick plants so they come up as weeds; some will do better in a wet spring, some will do better in a dry spring, or in a richer part of the garden, or in a sunnier part, or through a late frost. And of course I always want to keep lambs quarters and plantain and pineappleweed and that sort of thing.
Anyhow, I'd been doing this without being really explicit about it. Thought I might as well write it down because I noticed that when I was at the neighbours' place idly weeding I kept asking "do you want me to leave this stinging nettle?" or whatnot and realized many other people just remove everything they didn't plant.
Weeds that are never edible I weed out immediately, especially perennials with rhizomes like grass or morning glory.
Weeds that I don't want many of I weed out when before they go to seed, like shepherd's purse or plantain.
Weeds that I especially like I leave tons of. Most of the leafy ones I weed out after they're done being tasty, but every two years or so I leave one or two extra nice specimens that have good eating properties to go to seed (like lamb's quarters). Something like pineappleweed where they pretty much need to go to seed to be good I try to ride that line between pulling them before too much seed falls and leaving them long enough to harvest some. Sometimes I'll leave a corner of my garden for a patch of something like pineappleweed. I leave dandelions if they're in a good greens location.
I will definitely pull weeds that look like they're going to crowd/moisture-rob/overshadow high-value crops.
In spring, when plants that will become huge are still little, I like to have a little something tasty growing between them. Weeds serve that function for me. My weeding strategy is designed with this in mind. I'm working on a spring "scattering mix" to add some chicory, radishes, cilantro, parsley, calendula, leaf or mini lettuces, arugula, shungiku, kale, purslane, chard, borage, dill, that sort of thing. My hope is to eventually have a solid seed bed for these tasty quick plants so they come up as weeds; some will do better in a wet spring, some will do better in a dry spring, or in a richer part of the garden, or in a sunnier part, or through a late frost. And of course I always want to keep lambs quarters and plantain and pineappleweed and that sort of thing.
Anyhow, I'd been doing this without being really explicit about it. Thought I might as well write it down because I noticed that when I was at the neighbours' place idly weeding I kept asking "do you want me to leave this stinging nettle?" or whatnot and realized many other people just remove everything they didn't plant.
