Step 1: Weed Identification
A part of weeding that has never been my forte, is IDing the weeds. I tend to just pull up everything that I didn’t plant, and then call it a day. But an important part of weeding is to ID the weeds in your garden. This will help you to figure out the best way to eradicate them and can also provide insights into the soil and nutrient quality of your garden. Here’s a great website for anyone in the US for common weed identification. For less common weeds, Tumblr is a great resource to use to get other people’s opinions as to what your weed may be. Here’s some weeds growing in my winter garden right now and my tentative jump into trying to ID them.
Carpetweed (Mollugo verticillata). True to its name, carpetweed spreads rapidly until it looks like a carpet of green. Easy to pull but grows back if all of the root isn’t pulled. I believe it also makes little green burs in the spring that I always find in my cat’s belly hair.
Chickweed (Stellaria media). One of the most common weeds in my area. Very vigorous grower, spreading rapidly in fertile areas and is generally a sign of a healthy garden soil. The plant itself is edible and we sometimes sell it on the farm with henbit, since they both grow readily in the tunnels.
Henbit or Deadnettle (Lamium amplexicaule). In the middle of this picture, amongst the many weeds, you can see a mint looking plant, this is deadnettle. Much easier to spot in the spring and summer with its unusual purple flowers that grow from the nodes of the stem. Also an edible.
Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale). Notoriously common weed in this and possibly most areas. Pain in the ass to try to pull up all the way but the taproot can be used to make a coffee like tea. All parts of the plant are edible, though not super tasty. We grow French Dandelion at the farm as a super food, good for smoothies and juicing.
Unknown, possibly Dock? Anyone on Tumblr want to hazard a guess?
Unknown, possibly Pennywort or Creeping Charlie? Anyone have any guesses? The leaves are shiny like pennywort but the leaf shape is similar to creeping charlie.
Hair Bittercress (Cardamine hirsuta). I think this is my new favorite weed (if that’s a thing). It’s so delicate and fern-like, that I don’t even mind it in my garden. I don’t think I noticed it before because it’s only in green form during the winter, and then flowers and slims down in the spring and summer.
Mock Strawberry (Duchesnea indica). One of those plants that gets your hopes up and then isn’t really a strawberry! But it grows the same way as a strawberry plant, with runners coming from a central plant and then the runners root and make new plants and so on and so forth. They make excellent groundcover plants, if you get over the disappointing berries.
My garden is USDA Zone 7, in Central NC, USA if anyone was curious. Unknown weed IDs?
