Weeds can be the bane of gardening, right? There are definitely ways to reduce their growth like mulching, and no-dig gardening. But don’t get too discouraged when you find common lawn weeds, or garden weeds. There are some great ways to use them, after all.
Eat the Weeds
I’m not saying that every weed is edible, of course, but many common garden weeds are both edible and delicious. And many of them are nutritional powerhouses. Identifying weeds is an important first step; do your homework, and then enjoy!
Garlic Mustard
Some common edible weeds include dandelion, purslane, wood sorrel, creeping charlie, lambsquarter, clover, garlic mustard, and so many more.
In the spring, we always have wild greens from weeds to eat much earlier than our cultivated greens. They provide lots of nourishment and are free to harvest.
Homemade Violet and Dandelion Pink Lemonade
How to Make Delicious Dandelion Leaf Pesto
Salad with Wild Greens and Flowers
Weeds in Home Remedies
Plantain
As you begin to wet your feet in herbalism and start making your own home remedies, you’ll discover that many very effective healing herbs are common weeds.
These include plants like plantain, chickweed, creeping charlie, stinging nettle, dandelion, and jewelweed.
Is it a Weed or is it an Herbal Remedy?
Dandelion Oil Lotion Bars for Dry Skin and Sore Muscles
Foraging Mullein for Earaches and Coughs
Plantain and Jewelweed Home Remedy for Poison Ivy Rash
From Plantain Leaf to Healing Balm
Use Weeds as Indicators of Your Soil Condition
Wood Sorrel
Weeds prefer certain growing conditions, and can be used as indicators of your soil’s condition.
For example, both dandelion and wood sorrel indicate soil that is low in calcium. Chickweed and lambsquarter indicate rich soil, high in nitrogen. If you have moss or mullein growing, your soil is acidic.
Lots of plantain? Your soil is compacted.
I have a great little book called Test Your Soil with Plants by John Beeby that is packed with great information on what weeds indicate about your soil. It’s unfortunately out-of-print and used copies can be pricey, but I did find it reasonably priced here.
Compost Your Weeds
Weeds growing in your lawn or garden contain minerals from the soil in which they were grown. So why just discard those weeds? Composting weeds returns those nutrients back to the soil.
Yes, there are some considerations when composting weeds. You want to be careful that you do it in a way that is not spreading those weeds. See my post linked below for great tips on composting weeds.
How to Compost Weeds the Safe Way
Use Weeds to Make Fertilizer
One way to use weeds to improve your garden soil is to compost them, as mentioned above.
But weeds can also be used to make a liquid fertilizer. Simply fill a 5 gallon pail with weeds, and then cover with water. Place the lid on the pail and allow to sit for several weeks.
Then simply strain the very smelly liquid and use it as fertilizer for your garden.
Weeds Can Benefit Wildlife
An albino milkweed we found while out hiking one afternoon.
Weeds can be beneficial to wildlife. Many of their flowers are a source of pollen for bees. And their seeds feed many species of birds.
Ragweed seeds, for example, remain on the plant throughout winter providing food during a time when others sources are scarce.
Milkweed, a common weed, is critical to the life cycle of the monarch butterfly.
Smartweed, which produces large amounts of seed in the late summer and fall, is a good source of food for fall migration.
Read Common Beneficial Plants Found in Wildlife Habitat for more information on how weeds benefit wildlife.
Weeds Provide Erosion Control
Clover
When soil is disturbed the first plants to sprout are weeds, of course. They play an important role in preventing erosion.
Clover, often thought of as a weed, helps to hold topsoil in place, keeps other weeds at bay, and improves the condition of the soil by adding nitrogen.
Even a weed like ground ivy can provide erosion control on a slope. And it’s both edible and medicinal!
Weeds Can Be Beneficial
Have I convinced you that weeds aren’t always the enemy? The next time you are frustrated with weeds in your grass, stop and ask yourself how you can benefit from those weeds. They may just become friends!
More Than Weeds
 A Foraging eCourse for Beginners
Are you interested in foraging, but a bit hesitant because you don’t trust your own abilities? I created a mini eCourse just for you. In More Than Weeds: 5 Common Plants to Forage for Food and Medicine you’ll learn that identifying plants is all in the details.
Thank you for visiting Learning And Yearning. May "the LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace." Num 6:24-26
Marcia Cox says
Can you include the latin names, please? Reason being people who are not in the Americas often have different local names for plants. This could stop someone poisoning themselves!
Sarah says
Very informative post. I definitely gained some new perspectives on weeds! Thanks for sharing this.
Jeremy Bloomberg says
I love gardening. I try to grow up my garden in my free time. I got some very good ideas about garden weeds by reading this article. I hope its boost up my gardening skill and help to grow my garden also.
Thank you.
Ethan Jackson says
I read this article and find out 7 great benefit of common lawn and garden weeds. So I got some very good idea about common lawn and garden weeds hope its help me to raise my garden. Thanks for the sharing.