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What Is a Weed?

newyorker.com

21–30 of 51 posts

Re: What Is a Weed?

#21
One of the most common weeds in North Texas are various forms of wild lettuce. We have had entire salads picked from weeds in the yard. Less common and less aggressive than wild lettuce are dandelions which taste so much better.

An interesting note is that I have seen wild lettuce grow almost everywhere including both Afghanistan and the deserts of central California. Wild lettuce is called Lactuca from Latin which is where the English word lactose comes from. Lettuce gives off a thick white latex sap when broken which is a mild relative of heroine.

Re: What Is a Weed?

#22
post #8

Douglas Fir. Not a weed when over 100 years? Definitely a weed when 100s of seedlings sprout in my garden each spring?

Our state tree. And it's not even actually a fir, just pretends to be one.

Re: What Is a Weed?

#23
This is why I still love the New Yorker: touching on urban foraging, industrial agriculture, native wisdom and Amish people, this article had so many chances to go wrong but ended up being a delightful read.

Re: What Is a Weed?

#24
I'm about to eat some shelling peas I foraged on the edge of a grass field (yeah, we grow grass seeds as a crop here). The peas were last years crop so not exactly a weed but effectively the same thing.

Re: What Is a Weed?

#25

This is why I still love the New Yorker: touching on urban foraging, industrial agriculture, native wisdom and Amish people, this article had so many chances to go wrong but ended up being a delightful read.

Agree on this article and it's why I used to love the magazine and was a subscriber for many years. Unfortunately, it got to the point where this kind of content was increasingly rare and I unsubscribed a few years ago.

Re: What Is a Weed?

#26

One of the most common weeds in North Texas are various forms of wild lettuce. We have had entire salads picked from weeds in the yard. Less common and less aggressive than wild lettuce are dandelions which taste so much better. An interesting note is that I have seen wild lettuce grow almost everywhere including both Afghanistan and the deserts of central California. Wild lettuce is called Lactuca from Latin which i…

Rather than 'lactose' being derived from 'lactuca', I'm pretty sure that both words just have a common root 'lac', the Latin word for 'milk'

Re: What Is a Weed?

#27

This is why I still love the New Yorker: touching on urban foraging, industrial agriculture, native wisdom and Amish people, this article had so many chances to go wrong but ended up being a delightful read.

Agree on this article and it's why I used to love the magazine and was a subscriber for many years. Unfortunately, it got to the point where this kind of content was increasingly rare and I unsubscribed a few years ago.

I usually get the online version for free from my public library via Overdrive

Re: What Is a Weed?

#28
To my girlfriend a weed is anything not part of a manicured lawn, as far as I can tell.

My protests of "that's a native plant!" matter not.

Re: What Is a Weed?

#29

I'm about to eat some shelling peas I foraged on the edge of a grass field (yeah, we grow grass seeds as a crop here). The peas were last years crop so not exactly a weed but effectively the same thing.

Farmers call those peas "volunteer crops". Volunteer crops are considered weeds.

Re: What Is a Weed?

#30

my uncle with an ag degree has always said “a weed is any plant in a place you don’t want it.” I’m getting better at accepting this and moving / pulling things that may be beautiful but have outgrown their spot in my yard.

I actually learned this from "Space Ghost: Coast to Coast" when SG was interviewing an Ag professor from Georgia Tech.

Who said you can't learn anything from cartoons?

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