You might be one of those gardeners who daily spend hours just to kill those weeds that you never love to have them in your lawn and garden. Well, have you ever thought for a while when you wear a mask, the pair of gloves and carrying a canister filled with chemical to kill weeds, that they might of great use. No doubt that these weeds are a formidable foe and keep on visiting your garden every year. But, not all the weeds that you kill are poisonous. Let us have a look at these weeds from a different or positive perspective.

You will be amazed to know that there are some weeds that are edible. Not only edible, but also they provide nutrition and health benefits, and you can use them with your salads as well. Today, I’ll be putting forth 15 Edible Weeds That Add Nutritious Value, and are easy to grow in your garden. Moreover, these edible weeds also provide many health benefits to your body and maintain a healthy metabolism rate as well.

15 Edible Weeds That Add Nutritious Value

1) Dandelions

Dandelions are beautiful flat green leaves, and they grow mostly lower to the ground. These leaves grow bright yellow flowers on them that no one could resist picking. Dandelions leaves have a bitter flavor, and the severity of this bitterness depends on the size of its leaves. The bigger the leaves, the bitter the flavor will be. However, the flowers are sweet and crunchy.

2) Clover Weed

Clover weeds could be added to your soups or salads to add some tasty and crunchy flavor to your meals. Clover leaves are white or off-white in color and could be dried and used to make tea. Clover leaves are easily grown at home, and their leaves are dark green and rounded.

3) Chickweed

Chickweed is a tiny weed with a 6-inch stem and rounded leaves. It produces fresh white flowers with petals. You can use chickweed in your salads or even cook them. They taste like spinach or cucumber sometimes. Chickweeds are also used in medical industry and also brewed to prepare delicious tea.

When diuretic, they could be applied on minor cuts and burns.

4) Curly Dock Edible Weed

This weed has long left that are curly. Both of its stems and leaves could be eaten, and they taste like the tart. Moreover, its seeds could be dried and brewed to use as a substitute for coffee.

5) Lamb’s Quarters

Also known as goosefoot because of the shapes and size of its leaves. You can eat them in raw form, or cook them. They taste much like spinach and sometimes bitter, not too much. They also taste like quinoa, depending upon the size of its leaves.

6) Plantain Weed

You might have heard of a fruit named “Plantain”, but this is not a fruit. It is a tiny weed and grown in gardens, and appear like small Christmas tree with its leaves shrink. Make sure that you eat its leaves when they are young. The weed could be steamed, boiled or eaten in raw form.

In case the leaves mature, they become tough, so eat them when they are young. Moreover, its seed pods could be eaten like grain as they are rich in fiber.

7) Mallow

This weed has seed pods resembling cheese, and because of this it is sometimes known as cheeseweed. You can eat both the seed pods and leaves of Mallow. You can eat them in raw form or cook. Try to harvest its leaves and seed pods when they are young.

8) Pigweed

Pigweed is also known as amaranth, and it grown very fast. It has the tall edible weed that ripe overnight. You can use its large sized leaves in dishes like leafy greens. The sprouting seed pods from the weed top are also cooked.

9) Purslane

This weed spreads along the surface of the soil and grows in moist and shady areas. It has the high amount of Omega-3 contents that are edible and beneficial for your body. It has a crispy texture and taste like pepper. Perfect to mix with salads!

10) Queen Anne’s Lace

Queen Anne’s lace is a beautiful and edible weed with white flowers with their thick and dense petals that resemble lace. This weed is mostly eaten raw, but sometimes deep fried and mixed with soup to give it a more appetizing taste.

11) Stinging Nettles

It has a prickly exterior but is a rich source of vitamin A, B and C along with calcium, magnesium and zinc that are recommended for your body. This weed has been proven to give relief from arthritis and seasonal allergies.

12) Blackberries

It is a wild weed, but both the fruit (blackberry) and leaves are edible. Its leave has stinging outgrowths, which are not actually stingy. You can eat them in raw form directly.

13) Sheep Sorrel

Sheep sorrel in a common pesky weed with arrow shaped leaves that develop flowering stalks as they mature. They taste sweet, but sometime bitter and re rich source of vitamins.

14) Thistles

Not the whole weed, but only the edible part of thistle is beneficial for your body. You can cut down leaf, and eat the vein like part of thistle.