If you can't beat 'em, eat 'em: how local gardeners get creative with pesky weeds
ST. CLOUD — Behind every beautiful garden is a gardener struggling to keep up with the weeds. But before you throw away your dandelions, crabgrass and other unwanted garden bed residents, local horticulturists encourage you to take advantage of the plants' benefits.
Ann Finan, assistant professor of sociology at St. Cloud State University, and Andrea Lawrence, the mayor of Clearwater, both volunteer at the university's community garden.
As they walk through rows of zucchini and peas, they pause every few feet to kneel down and yank the weeds out of the ground. Before adding the lamb's quarters to the pile of plants they've already collected, Lawrence takes a bite.
"It's a little like spinach," she says. "It works well for a salad."
Many of the common weeds in Central Minnesota are edible. Some are tangy like lemon or mild-flavored like spinach, and some are packed with valuable vitamins that even outmatch the plants we typically eat.
Finan pulled a leaf from a purslane plant growing in the garden. "This was initially introduced as a plant species and brought over by settlers from Europe and Asia," she said. "It's one of the best plant species for omega-3."
That's why many herbalists use some of these common weeds for medicinal purposes.
"These weeds have learned to grow on the edge," Finan said. "They develop a higher concentration of alkaloid and other compounds used in medicine to protect them from predation."
Not only are many of these uninvited guests nutritionally valuable, they are packed with strong flavors that have been bred out of our most common vegetables.
"That's my favorite weed!" Lawrence laughed as she hurried over to reach for a clover-like plant growing under a garden bed. "That's right, I have a favorite weed."
After spending years at the community garden, Finan and Lawrence have figured out what weeds pair well with salads, which ones to add to soups and which ones to avoid altogether.
"Luckily, a lot of the weeds that grow in Central Minnesota are safe to eat," Lawrence said.
But the gardeners still encourage everyone to use caution when picking wild plants.
"If you have any allergies or you're just unsure about a plant, look it up," Finan said.
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources offers plant identification guides that can help you decide if a certain weed would be safe on a salad.
The SCSU Community Garden doesn't use any chemicals or pesticides, but others should be cautious of eating weeds that may have been sprayed, especially if you plan to harvest the plant for wine, like many Minnesotans do for dandelion wine.
"I think the dandelion wine might be generational," Lawrence said. "My mother-in-law got drunk for the first time in her life off of it. It's very Central Minnesotan of her."
The wine is made out of the weed's yellow blossoms. Some even add the stem into the batch for a more bitter-tasting wine.
The Hop Shop, 3415 W. Division St., sells the yeast and wine-making materials for locals who want to try their hand at brewing their own dandelion wine.
While it may be the most common weed-derived wine, it isn't the only creative brew in your garden.
Finan yanked up a crabgrass plant, turned it upside down, and shook some of the dirt off the roots.
"You can make wine out of the crabgrass roots," she said.
"I always wonder who the first person was to try these things," Lawrence joked. "They must have been really desperate or probably just a teenager. It would take hours to get all the dirt off the roots".
While the garden's weeds can be useful, the volunteers at the university's community garden still try to get a handle on them.
"We work very hard to make it look like this," Lawrence says as she points to the neat rows of cabbage and patches of rhubarb. "We aren't trying to be the weed capital of Central Minnesota."
These gardeners aren't suggesting anyone should purposely grow weeds in their gardens, as they choke out many of your other vegetables. But giving the invasive plants a purpose after pulling them out of your garden is a great way to make the best out of a pesky situation.
If you are interested in finding out about how to get involved in gardening or have questions about edible weeds, contact Tracy Ore, founder of the Community Garden , at 320-492-6724.