What a thoughtful and informative post. We’re in the process of re-wilding our yard and still learning how to go about everything. In one ear I hear that invasive weeds are bad, but as I identify and research the local ‘weeds’ I’m finding that most of them, while technically invasive, are medicinal and edible. I’m not sure if you’re one to respond to readers here, but I’d love your insight if so! No worries if not—still very glad I found your publication and look forward to future essays!
I love that you're rewilding your yard! While I love my wild weeds and organic gardens, I'm certainly not an expert on the best practices - but I can share what's worked and hasn't for me.
The general goal I have is to mostly fill my yard with wild, medicinal and edible plants that thrive naturally in my climate, native or not (which isn't totally rewilding). With this in mind, I consider the benefits of the weeds that spring up, the voracity of their ability to take over, and any toxic effects they might have. (For example, while dandelions are fun to harvest and help clean the soil, something like cheatgrass spreads everywhere at a pace I can't keep up with and sends troubling burrs into dogs and other animals.)
Then, I consider the size of my space. It's a lot harder to control the balance of plants in a large space, and you can easily find that more toxic plants totally take over before you know it. For our bigger yard now, we've basically been pulling up the invasive plants and adding mulch, sort of to start from scratch. I'm slowly removing bits of mulch and adding medicinal herb and wildflower seeds, along with compost and earthworms to help heal the soil. Plus, I've brought in many starter plants that will spread - yarrow, bergamot, catmint, gentian, etc. This seems to be working, but it's a slow process :)
When I had a smaller space in Denver, I enjoyed letting some of our most common healing nad edible weeds grow - mostly wild lettuce, chickweed, plantain, lambs quarters, dandelion, purslane, and mallow. If you do this, just stay on top of your harvests! I tried to harvest and use as much as I could before these went to seed. Then I would absolutely clear out a lot of these plants at the end of the season, knowing they'd still be back in force the next year.
This is so helpful. Thanks so much for taking the time to respond! I've saved your note and will definitely be referring to it as we work toward a more wild yard. I like the idea of replacing with mulch slowly. I tried once to xeriscape completely and start from scratch but it didn't quite work out--so this might suit our goals better. Thanks again!
Blessed be our glorious dandy’s! Loved this post - and love that plant! I did notice this year a lot of Denver parks not removing/destroying them - made for glorious sunshine on the grasses 💛
What a thoughtful and informative post. We’re in the process of re-wilding our yard and still learning how to go about everything. In one ear I hear that invasive weeds are bad, but as I identify and research the local ‘weeds’ I’m finding that most of them, while technically invasive, are medicinal and edible. I’m not sure if you’re one to respond to readers here, but I’d love your insight if so! No worries if not—still very glad I found your publication and look forward to future essays!
I love that you're rewilding your yard! While I love my wild weeds and organic gardens, I'm certainly not an expert on the best practices - but I can share what's worked and hasn't for me.
The general goal I have is to mostly fill my yard with wild, medicinal and edible plants that thrive naturally in my climate, native or not (which isn't totally rewilding). With this in mind, I consider the benefits of the weeds that spring up, the voracity of their ability to take over, and any toxic effects they might have. (For example, while dandelions are fun to harvest and help clean the soil, something like cheatgrass spreads everywhere at a pace I can't keep up with and sends troubling burrs into dogs and other animals.)
Then, I consider the size of my space. It's a lot harder to control the balance of plants in a large space, and you can easily find that more toxic plants totally take over before you know it. For our bigger yard now, we've basically been pulling up the invasive plants and adding mulch, sort of to start from scratch. I'm slowly removing bits of mulch and adding medicinal herb and wildflower seeds, along with compost and earthworms to help heal the soil. Plus, I've brought in many starter plants that will spread - yarrow, bergamot, catmint, gentian, etc. This seems to be working, but it's a slow process :)
When I had a smaller space in Denver, I enjoyed letting some of our most common healing nad edible weeds grow - mostly wild lettuce, chickweed, plantain, lambs quarters, dandelion, purslane, and mallow. If you do this, just stay on top of your harvests! I tried to harvest and use as much as I could before these went to seed. Then I would absolutely clear out a lot of these plants at the end of the season, knowing they'd still be back in force the next year.
Good luck - let us know how it goes!
This is so helpful. Thanks so much for taking the time to respond! I've saved your note and will definitely be referring to it as we work toward a more wild yard. I like the idea of replacing with mulch slowly. I tried once to xeriscape completely and start from scratch but it didn't quite work out--so this might suit our goals better. Thanks again!
Blessed be our glorious dandy’s! Loved this post - and love that plant! I did notice this year a lot of Denver parks not removing/destroying them - made for glorious sunshine on the grasses 💛
Thanks for the recipes. I want to make dandelion infused oil. Have you ever made a flower essence from the yellow dandelions flowers?
Yes, of course! It's one of my favorites for joy and resilience :)