Weed 'n' Feed

Last year I found a new plant in the garden late in the year. It's one that I really enjoyed in the small amounts that were available in the fall, but this year I'm really looking forward to taking more advantage of it's plentiful nature. Can you see it?

It's so plentiful in fact that regardless of it's popularity in many other parts of the world, here in the US it's generally considered a weed. Here's a little closer look. Do you know it now?
OK, let's really get a good look at this versatile little plant. Purslane. I regularly pulled this plant out last year before I learned about it. As it turns out, purslane is one of the healthiest plants that we could ever eat. It contains more of the heart healthy omega 3's that we're always hearing about than any other terrestrial plant on earth and there is it, FREE in most of our gardens and we pull it out as a weed. Go figure?
Well not this year. I let mine come up where it would, and kept an eye on it. Unless you want this plant to be HIGHLY prolific you need to either pull or cut it back before the seed pods form. I went through the garden this afternoon sowing some bone/blood meal into the ground, and took the opportunity to pull all the purslane that I came across.
The plant itself is actually a succulent. The stems are firm and hardy, while the leafs are slightly fleshy and crisp. They are a great addition to any salad raw, or you can stir fry them, add them to soups or any other recipe where you might add greens. I look forward to adding these to a fresh veggie stir fry for tomorrow.

Take a look in the yard next time your out there and I'd be surprised if you don't find some of this somewhere. If you don't, you can find seeds for this great "weed" at many of the finer seed catalogues online. This year I am going to let some of mine that is in a separate container go to seed so that next year I can have a dedicated pot for them. Maybe I'll share some with some of you.

hope you all had a great weekend.
P~