Best ways to make use of backyard "weeds"? (nettles, mallow, etc...)

[Organilush]

'Tis the season for all of the young "weeds" to start to emerge, at least around my region (northern-central cali).

My backyard is mostly "natural"/native, what ever grows grows...I only trim portions of it down during spring to make room for the garden and my cannabis plants.

My backyard is chock full of young nettles & mallow at the moment. I'd like to make use of these plants while they are still around, since in my area everything is usually dried up by late May.


I'm curious about some of the ways you fellas make use of these "weeds", since they are pretty loaded with nutrition. I'm assuming fermenting and/or composting?

Does anyone have a certain technique & ratio they use when making a fermented plant tea with something like nettles and/or mallow?...or just toss some plants into a bucket of water and let em' "rot"?

I'm likely going to give the soil in my fab-pots a nice layer of top dressing with shredded up nettles & mallow in the next week or so...let that breakdown for a few months before any plants are placed in them. And I may also do a fermented tea and give that to the soil.


(I also make a strong "tisane" with young nettles that I drink myself a few times through out late winter/spring time....Lots of good stuff in nettles...vitamin A, B vitamins..B-1, B-2, B-3, and B-5, vitamin C, amino acids, calcium, fatty acids, folic acid, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium...Doesn't taste good but doesn't taste terrible, taste like liquid hay/grass no surprise lol)




.

 

[h.h.]

Read the “Local Materials” thread. It kinda fades into fermentations.
Your tea may work just fine though.

 

[Rico Swazi]

harvest your weeds and herbs at their peak and dry them for use later on


try a small handful of dried mallow and nettle mixed in the soil or top dressed
no need to let it cook IME



Adding dried comfrey takes it to another level (if you don't have comfrey, get some asap, amazing plant)



Lemon Balm is what I use to flavor nettle tea which includes a bit of yarrow and mullein to round it out for my medicinal needs

 

[Cvh]

I compost everything.

 

[Rico Swazi]

a carefully tended and well matured compost pile is gold but somewhat limiting

new studies are being done on the relationship of the variety of yeasts, bacteria, and fungi in the phyllosphere and the epiphytic value they provide to the soil microbiome
My understanding is by collecting aerial parts of a plant when they are the most healthy, a few of the epiphytes (Yeasts?) will survive and populate or become food for others in the rhizosphere when top dressed with nettle and comfrey for example.

Diversity is key and seems logical to save a few aerial parts for later in the season is all I'm going on about


Edit- not saying this method is 'best' but rather a different way that most gardeners dont often think about

 

[3rdEye]

'Tis the season for all of the young "weeds" to start to emerge, at least around my region (northern-central cali).

My backyard is mostly "natural"/native, what ever grows grows...I only trim portions of it down during spring to make room for the garden and my cannabis plants.

My backyard is chock full of young nettles & mallow at the moment. I'd like to make use of these plants while they are still around, since in my area everything is usually dried up by late May.

I'm curious about some of the ways you fellas make use of these "weeds", since they are pretty loaded with nutrition. I'm assuming fermenting and/or composting?

Does anyone have a certain technique & ratio they use when making a fermented plant tea with something like nettles and/or mallow?...or just toss some plants into a bucket of water and let em' "rot"?

I'm likely going to give the soil in my fab-pots a nice layer of top dressing with shredded up nettles & mallow in the next week or so...let that breakdown for a few months before any plants are placed in them. And I may also do a fermented tea and give that to the soil.

(I also make a strong "tisane" with young nettles that I drink myself a few times through out late winter/spring time....Lots of good stuff in nettles...vitamin A, B vitamins..B-1, B-2, B-3, and B-5, vitamin C, amino acids, calcium, fatty acids, folic acid, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium...Doesn't taste good but doesn't taste terrible, taste like liquid hay/grass no surprise lol)

.

I have two major categories of plant "juices". Either what I call a botanical soak, which is a shorter relative soak where plant material is in water with or without stirring for 72 hours or less; or the longer putrefactive soaks which last longer than 7 or more days.

The idea is that shorter soaks will ideally retain more delicate long chain molecules and essential oils, whereas the longer soaks break things down into a nutrient/mineral soup which can be used more akin to a fertilizer. I like nettle tisane with a little added honey. Lambsquarters is good for mineral salts.

 

[Rico Swazi]

true , short soak=secondary metabolites while long soaks (ferments) = elements
but why would people limit themselves to composting or botanical extracts and teas ?


Ever eat a pine tree? many parts are edible...


Been baking bread almost daily since the world went crazy. Harvesting and saving nettle seeds paid off in spades. We use nettle and lambsquarters instead of poppy seeds and people round here eat it up. Big demand nowadays.
This one is Scarborough with fresh dried nettle leaf and seeds from last year with a small amount fresh rosemary thyme and sage to round it out. Ran out of lambsquarter seeds round the holidays



My point being .... there are many ways to use weeds which includes eating them
Here's a couple links

https://www.northernbushcraft.com/plants/
https://www.ediblewildfood.com/

The BEST part comes when a person knows how to utilize the weeds growing all around
I have no fear of going hungry nor should you
bong appetites everyone

 

[Xhashish]

I have had good success with nettle tea, just fill a 20 liter bucket (or bigger) with nettles, fill with water then place a rock on top to hold down the nettles, best is to put a plate on top, or a lid, so birds or any other curious animals not fall in.
Then leave it for 10-12 days, then strain the nettles - (those can be used for compost)
And then you are left with a good natural fertilizer, but it's pretty strong, so mix it 1:10 with water

 

[Organilush]

I have had good success with nettle tea, just fill a 20 liter bucket (or bigger) with nettles, fill with water then place a rock on top to hold down the nettles, best is to put a plate on top, or a lid, so birds or any other curious animals not fall in.
Then leave it for 10-12 days, then strain the nettles - (those can be used for compost)
And then you are left with a good natural fertilizer, but it's pretty strong, so mix it 1:10 with water

That's basically what I did, except with some mallow along with the nettles.

...and it's been sitting for around 4 to 5 weeks now.



I've never actually used a fermented plant tea before, I don't know if such a thing can go "bad" or ferment for too long...?..I've been wondering if it is safe to use?






Rico...that bread looks delicious!




.

 

[h.h.]

I don’t cut my fermentations, often using them after several weeks of sitting. The worst effect I see is a temporary Ph drop that really doesn’t seem to matter. It seems the main factor is the density of the soil. I keep a very loose soil. It’s very forgiving. A tight soil is more prone to anaerobic conditions.

 

[Sunshineinabag]

OH i love it

OH i love it

true , short soak=secondary metabolites while long soaks (ferments) = elements
but why would people limit themselves to composting or botanical extracts and teas ?


Ever eat a pine tree? many parts are edible...


Been baking bread almost daily since the world went crazy. Harvesting and saving nettle seeds paid off in spades. We use nettle and lambsquarters instead of poppy seeds and people round here eat it up. Big demand nowadays.
This one is Scarborough with fresh dried nettle leaf and seeds from last year with a small amount fresh rosemary thyme and sage to round it out. Ran out of lambsquarter seeds round the holidays

[URL=https://www.icmag.com/ic/picture.php?albumid=79870&pictureid=2023727&thumb=1]View Image[/URL] [URL=https://www.icmag.com/ic/picture.php?albumid=79870&pictureid=2023728&thumb=1]View Image[/URL]

My point being .... there are many ways to use weeds which includes eating them
Here's a couple links

https://www.northernbushcraft.com/plants/
https://www.ediblewildfood.com/

The BEST part comes when a person knows how to utilize the weeds growing all around
I have no fear of going hungry nor should you
bong appetites everyone

well done sir

 

[Gry]

Neat as can be.

 

[Sunshineinabag]

pine tea

pine tea

true , short soak=secondary metabolites while long soaks (ferments) = elements
but why would people limit themselves to composting or botanical extracts and teas ?


Ever eat a pine tree? many parts are edible...


Been baking bread almost daily since the world went crazy. Harvesting and saving nettle seeds paid off in spades. We use nettle and lambsquarters instead of poppy seeds and people round here eat it up. Big demand nowadays.
This one is Scarborough with fresh dried nettle leaf and seeds from last year with a small amount fresh rosemary thyme and sage to round it out. Ran out of lambsquarter seeds round the holidays

[URL=https://www.icmag.com/ic/picture.php?albumid=79870&pictureid=2023727&thumb=1]View Image[/URL] [URL=https://www.icmag.com/ic/picture.php?albumid=79870&pictureid=2023728&thumb=1]View Image[/URL]

My point being .... there are many ways to use weeds which includes eating them
Here's a couple links

https://www.northernbushcraft.com/plants/
https://www.ediblewildfood.com/

The BEST part comes when a person knows how to utilize the weeds growing all around
I have no fear of going hungry nor should you
bong appetites everyone

Dude boreal forests are where its at for a soul like me, i remember taking white pine tar and chewing it as a kid.......Yum bland gum! I also think its anti bacterial, pine sap

 

[Sunshineinabag]

https://www.milkweedmedicinalseeds.com/


dam it if these guys dont have the best

 

[Beaucephus]

Cream of nettle soup is awesome too.

 

[Hastings]

Cream of nettle soup is awesome too.

I agree! I honestly don't quite understand the trend to feed cannabis plants people-food, but anyway... we have them pop up on our land here and there, and harvest throughout the season for greens and soups, etc. Better than spinach, beet, or chard as there is too much oxalic acid in them for my taste buds.

Hey I love my plants, but they don't eat food that I and my family could eat. Cannabis can't really distinguish because they don't have taste buds and typically don't eat other plants until broken down by bacteria, fungi, and protozoans. That includes the biomass from your last grow.

 

[Rico Swazi]

Not a trend, more of an awareness
Some gardeners call it feeding the soil instead of plants ...
essentially maintaining a healthy balanced living soil and environment for other plants to thrive. Nettle, by way of soak, biomass or companion planting is one of the absolute best plants to help achieve that goal.
When the power of nettle and other weeds as companion plants to bring in beneficial insects are fully realized, the idea of using nettle only for food, tea and plant nutrients is less than best. Its an awareness thing.


I grow nettle in containers. First pic is last years crop, to the left a nettle companion plant loaded with seeds used in the bread shown earlier. . Second pic is first cutting march 19th, second cutting (not shown) went into same bread a few weeks later. Last pic is of the plants I harvested and dried to save for later. Horsetail, yarrow, borage, comfrey, lambsquarters and nettle Glad I did, the yarrow has come to be very helpful to people with allergies and cold/flu symptoms lately.

That's basically what I did, except with some mallow along with the nettles.

...and it's been sitting for around 4 to 5 weeks now.

I've never actually used a fermented plant tea before, I don't know if such a thing can go "bad" or ferment for too long...?..I've been wondering if it is safe to use?


Rico...that bread looks delicious!


.

Organilush; thanks for the thread,hope you are doing well, the wife deserves the credit on the bread. Dilute your ferment 10 part water and proceed with observation, you will be fine. Many backyard weeds have medicinal use also. Do you have yarrow growing? Mullein, heal all ? Perhaps we could discuss the use of growing and using these weed plants as medicine in the future? You know dock or plantain leaves will relieve a nettle sting right?

 

[Rico Swazi]

Dude boreal forests are where its at for a soul like me, i remember taking white pine tar and chewing it as a kid.......Yum bland gum! I also think its anti bacterial, pine sap

Dude !!! chewing pine tar is bad ass! Any relation to Theophilus G ?



just havin fun

 

[welldone]

Not a trend, more of an awareness
Some gardeners call it feeding the soil instead of plants ...
essentially maintaining a healthy balanced living soil and environment for other plants to thrive. Nettle, by way of soak, biomass or companion planting is one of the absolute best plants to help achieve that goal.
When the power of nettle and other weeds as companion plants to bring in beneficial insects are fully realized, the idea of using nettle only for food, tea and plant nutrients is less than best. Its an awareness thing.


I grow nettle in containers. First pic is last years crop, to the left a nettle companion plant loaded with seeds used in the bread shown earlier. . Second pic is first cutting march 19th, second cutting (not shown) went into same bread a few weeks later. Last pic is of the plants I harvested and dried to save for later. Horsetail, yarrow, borage, comfrey, lambsquarters and nettle Glad I did, the yarrow has come to be very helpful to people with allergies and cold/flu symptoms lately.


[URL=https://www.icmag.com/ic/picture.php?albumid=79870&pictureid=2027420&thumb=1]View Image[/URL]


[URL=https://www.icmag.com/ic/picture.php?albumid=79870&pictureid=2027419&thumb=1]View Image[/URL]




[URL=https://www.icmag.com/ic/picture.php?albumid=79870&pictureid=2027418&thumb=1]View Image[/URL]








Organilush; thanks for the thread,hope you are doing well, the wife deserves the credit on the bread. Dilute your ferment 10 part water and proceed with observation, you will be fine. Many backyard weeds have medicinal use also. Do you have yarrow growing? Mullein, heal all ? Perhaps we could discuss the use of growing and using these weed plants as medicine in the future? You know dock or plantain leaves will relieve a nettle sting right?

you make good use of the nettles nice idea