so my mom was saying i need to cut the grass soon since it is spring, and i figured i would pop a few questions in here about some stuff thats being growing wild in my yard before i chop it all down.....the first one is like chives or something isnt it? i remember being little and my neighbor would always pull them up and eat them and there was little onion things on the bottom and i always thought he was weird, lol. or are the second chives or another herb or what? they are dark green and light green and sordove floppy since it just rained but they look sordove like the herb plants people have in their front yard along walkways sometime. are these safe to grow and eat? and the third one is a bunch of seeds that have fallen all over the place around here, but i cant seem to find out where they came from and i was just curious....
Break off a leaf and rub it between your thumb and index finger, If it smells like onions it is chives or possibly a variety of wild onion. Use this trick to find herbs and stuff that's growing wild. Wild mint is a good plant to find. Same thing, rub a leaf with your fingers and sniff. Sun tea with some wild mint tea leafs in it rocks!!
if they're really flat (i can't tell too well from the picture) they're probably not chives. you can tell chives as the stalks are quite round compared to grass. but like metalwarrior said, smell it and see! if they are chives they are yummy cut up in salads, esp. rice or potato.
middle pic has white in the center of the blade? if so, porbably an ornamental grass (I'm thinking my neighbor of my childhood called it Monkey grass, but I'vs also seen MG with solid blades) top looks like I'd check the "onion/garlic scent. if so, move those babies and keep 'em.
Hi Fractal, Yea, amen to the above. On picture one, I would also dig one of them up. If it's what I think it is, there will be a small bulb, about the size of a marble. If so, cut it in half and smell. It'll probably smell like a cross between an onion and garlic. If so, they are ok to eat, in fact they work well with green beans or with "new" potatoes. They transplant very easily, just dig up the whole clump and put'em where you want them. By the way, dairy farmers hate them, the cows eat them and the milk smells like onions. And who wants onion milk? I also agree, the second one is probably Monkey Grass. I would not even try to eat it, but as you've seen, it's great as a border plant. Also transplants easily. Another tip I've seen work well is that in a photo used for identification, put something familiar in the picture. Something like a ruler, a baseball, or a nickle, depending on the size of what you're trying to ID. It helps the viewer get a size estimate, and as we all know - size does matter. Another suggestion, find out (from phone book) where the nearest county agent or county extension service is. They have a w i d e range of info that's local, expert and free - hard to beat that combo. They should be able to ID the seeds too. If not, let me know. On another subject, you might want to get some of "Hippytoad"'s Maturity plants - also known as "Mother of Thousands" because they are the rabbits of the plant world. As a house plant, they are about bullet proof. Peace, poor_old_dad
Well, we OLDER campers have a RULE to live by. Pluck ONE leaf. Hold it against your bottom lip for a minute. IF it starts to burn or tingle, DON'T Eat It! This goes for mushrooms too!
so howwould i go about harvesting those garlic-onions, cuz there all over the place here really and i bet a lot of them are about to get chopped into nothingness.. are the tops good for anything?? do i need to dry them or the onions or anything?
I'd do the test Matt suggested. If it passes the test, cut off a small (1/2 inch) piece and eat it. Chew well to get a good idea of the taste. If it's what I think it is, it the tops can be used same as chives. And don't worry about the tops getting cut. Once established they are hard to get rid of. I'd put a clump in a non-mowed spot and just use fresh. The tops grow back very quickly. Did you have a chance to check for a small bulb under ground? Peace, poor_old_dad
i didnt dig any of them up yet, they really are all over the place here though. i did matts test with a tip and it tasted garlic oniony, so i took couple strands, chopped it up and put it on top of a salad, pretty sure it was garlic, was burping its taste back up for a while...im going to move some of them eventually though, do they like full sun or what??? will they just grow and reproduce all summer? and does anyone know anything else about common wild edible foods or weeds?
Full sun; will grow all summer; reproduces by bulb division, don't know the time of year. Some old timers I knew (yes, even older than me) call them "Ramps". Ckeck these sites: http://home.att.net/~larvalbugrex/wildonion.html http://indianspringherbs.com/Wild_Onions.htm http://www.able2know.com/forums/about46543.html POD
