Nommy Weed

Im sure everyone has the same complaint as me at present, a little bit of rain and all the weeds seem to spring up out of nowhere. This is a very common one and almost everyone I know has seen this one, its Sow Thistle. A native to Europe, Asia and Northern Africa, it has managed to naturalise itself pretty much over the entire globe. It spreads by seed that is dispersed on the wind in the same way dandelions do with their fluffy parachutes attached to the seed. There is an old saying, one years weeding is seven years seeding. Essentially if you weed it out before it goes to seed, your problems are halved. The plants themselves are easy enough to pull out of the ground when weeding, but make sure you get the taproot, otherwise it will just re-shoot.

Interesting to note, this plant is also edible. My stepdad and I used to pick the leaves, wash them, then boil them up like spinach. I used to love it and I have it a guilty pleasure occasionally. Its full of iron and rather good for you.