weeds can be good guys

Since I attended yet another 'edible weed walk' recently, this one led by Adam Grubb, I'm on the lookout for these helpful intruders (weeds, that is).

And when Penny and I headed home from the local railway station, after our regular Monday walk to see Human Number Two off on the train, we paused to glance into this piece of  waste land. (You can just see the tips of Penny's hair at the bottom of the photo.)

Weeds are so good at helping Mother Nature to fix the injuries we humans do to her skin. I've been reading a pdf of a book written in 1950 about the discovery that weeds are our friends, not our enemies. The writer, Joseph A. Cocannouer, must have been brave to pioneer an appreciation of weeds in an age when most farmers and gardeners had declared war on them. The book is called Weeds; Guardians of the Soil, and I recommend it to every gardener and farmer. (It's a free download.)

I guess it was a Very Good Day for Penny today, because she went on two walks. In the afternoon we came across a lovely example of a wild brassica, but I didn't know which one it was, so I brought it home to wash it thoroughly and taste it. Delicious. We also found lots of pine needles, which I'm going to spread across the pot of blueberries as a mulch.

Here's the brassica.

dry weather for dog walking

I took some photos yesterday of the dry ground in a local park, but was so excited by a chance meeting with one of Penny's littermates that I decided to leave that post for today.

It's very dry everywhere we go. I think the soil is becoming hydrophobic, which will mean even when it rains it won't soak in.

When we were in Darebin Parklands recently, I didn't notice any purslane, which is usually a real survivor, but there were some in this park yesterday, looking as if they were just managing to live. Purslane is edible and we often eat it in salads, but I  use the cultivated form that we grow at home, where I know the leaves are clean. (It's in a pot on a stand where we can be sure it doesn't have dog-wee on it, lol.)

We also saw some mallows, which looked to be surviving a little better, but I still wouldn't eat them, of course, with so many dogs around. We have our own pot of mallow at home and it's much more luxuriant. We eat a little of it in salads, but do find the 'furry' leaves a little strange. But it's supposed to be good for you and the taste is nice.

Park mallow:

Our mallow at home:

it's very dry here

No one seems to be discussing the weather lately, which is strange for Melbourne. I guess we're all just glad we didn't have many bush fires this summer and we're enjoying the glorious cool, sunny weather.

But when will we get some proper rain?

We walked in Darebin Parklands today and it was disturbing to see how dry everything is.

I'm interested in weeds, especially the edible ones, but I didn't recognise the plants that are surviving in the desert landscape of the dog area of the park. I wonder what they all are? Some were dandelions, those mineral-filled nutritious plants that are so ubiquitous, but they were the only ones I knew.

In one area where there has been a bonfire, a baby wattle has sprouted. I think I read somewhere that wattles are one of the first-line plants after a fire. They grow, add nitrogen to the soil, and prepare the way for other plants to colonise.

Seeing that little plant made me think of the plant that has sprouted in one of my vegetable beds in my own garden. (I've transplanted it, but I'm not sure it will survive.)

It's a baby lemon scented gum, probably offspring of the giant in our street. (The tree is so tall I couldn't get far enough away to get the whole tree in this photo.)

mooching around the local lanes with my dog

Penny did her 'puppy eyes' trick today, glancing at her lead as if to say, 'When are we going out?'

Of course, I couldn't resist. I love it when she communicates with me so clearly. But I wasn't in the mood for a full-on exercise-type walk, so we strolled around for half an hour just smelling the flowers.

I feel sure Penny was smelling things, because she had the tell-tale froth around her nostrils that says she's in full scenting mode.

But, strangely, all the flowers she examined were low to the ground. Could it be that she wasn't actually enjoying perfumed flowers, but was sniffing around for pee-mails?

I, on the other hand, WAS looking at plants for aesthetic reasons. Oh, wait, I guess canine aesthetics involves urine, so I shouldn't feel so superior.

I recently attended a workshop on edible weeds at Ceres, so I was looking out for them. Here are a couple I noticed:

dandelion

plantain (I think)

I saw a lovely dandelion seedhead, and crouched down to get a photo of the ball of fluff. 

But Penny came to see what I was doing and wandered away with half the seeds stuck to her coat!

learning about 'qi kai cai' when walking with my dog

I love words, as you might know if you've ever popped over to my other blog.

I also love gardening, and particularly enjoy finding out about edible weeds. And I love walking with Penny.

How fortunate, then, that all these interests came together as Penny, her Other Human and I headed back from our walk at Willsmere on Sunday. We spotted a sign saying 'Hays Paddock' and saw people walking towards it with dogs on lead. Of course we had to suss it out.

Once we arrived, we realised it was the site of the famous playground designed for children with disabilities to have fun alongside children with no disabilities, and we thought perhaps it might not be the best place to take a dog, so we prepared to head off home. (However, a look at the City of Boroondara website shows that dogs can exercise there off-lead, which, when you think about it, is logical, because children with disabilities are quite likely to have a family dog.)

'Stop!' I cried as we drove past a woman crouched on the grass, digging up weeds. A chance to learn about edible weeds from a woman who seemed to be Chinese! Well, actually that was poetic licence on my part - seeing I was the driver, I didn't have to shout 'stop'.

Parking the car a short distance away, I hurried over and found she was happy to share her knowledge. She was digging up little flat plants, and gave me a couple to take home. I've put them in seed-raising mix to see how they grow.

After a look through some of my books about weeds, I concluded the plants are shepherds purse. I think we have them growing in our back lawn, but I'll have to wait until these ones flower to be sure, because the ones in the lawn have seed heads on them.

A couple of sites on the internet have interesting information about the use of this plant in Chinese cooking.  Here's one about the use of qi cai in wontons. And here's an extract from a book with a short piece about them.

I have many new experiences when I go out walking with Penny. Thanks, Penny!

visiting the park without the dog

Penny gave my legs a good sniffing when I came home from Darebin Parklands this afternoon. I could read her mind: 'What were you doing in one of my favorite places without me'?

Let's hope that next time I go down there Penny will be with me. We went for a little stroll around the block today, and up our grassy back lane. Her foot was bandaged, and miraculously the bandage didn't fall off, even though I forgot to follow proud womon's advice to put a sock over the bandage.

We'd better get some more walks happening soon, because the lying around is starting to give Penny some bad hair days.

The reason I was in the park without Penny? I was learning about edible weeds.  Can I now identify lots of these useful plants?

Hmm... maybe.