GGClub - From Grass to Gardens - secrets of vegetables and "weeds" - by Janet Lembke

I am loving From Grass to Gardens and there are so many wonderful gardening tips that I want it available to all, so am entering it on this blog. Following are quotes from Janet Lembke, maybe slightly paraphrased, and my comments, too. Please hit reply and add your own comments.

Lots of recipes here for the vegetables.

Companion Planting
marigolds and tomatoes. Virgil: vegetables along with white lilies, verain and poppies. Iroquois: corn, squash and beans (grat story here). She has a table from USDA.

Green Beans
To not fart - eat with applesauce.

July
Put iin the fall crops - broccoli, cauliflower need to start by July's end (she lives in Blue Ridge, VA area). Pick cucumbers - young ones who have not set seeds will not cause burping.

August
tomatoes: Better Boys; Yellow Pears (produce late in season); and marigold is enough for her.
PUt in cauliflower, kale, collards, brussels sprouts, cabbage, kohlrabi and broccoli are all "coles" and full of K, Vit C, fiber, antioxidants and more. rotate each year for 3 then you can go back.

Carrots: nantes half long and touchon go into a 10" raised bed. Squirrels scratch and no need to thin.

"Weeds" or food
Dandelion
http://www.goosefootacres.blogspot.com/ is my favorite how to eat weeds person. Ihave his book. His personal history should be know by any one who is hungry - Wanda or Andrea - maybe some of the food bank people would be interested. "It was that way with my family also. Back in 1948, my father died and left us with no money. My mother had no skills to support a family, but a friend told us that we could “live on lambsquarters” until she developed some.. Today, had she said that, she would have been laughed out of the kitchen. But then it was not unusual advice, because most Americans grew gardens and were familiar with what the soil had to offer. We knew that we were surrounded by mysterious wonders waiting to be discovered and harnessed for our use, and just needed someone knowledgeable to unlock the secrets. For us, that someone was Agnes Mare, a neighbor and friend from down the street. For the next six months, while my mother learned a couple of trades that would earn her enough money to support us, my six-year-old brother and nine-year-old self would spend the early mornings before school gathering the young tops of lambsquarters and bringing them into the kitchen where mother would make the most amazing spinach dishes from them. For, after all, that is all that lambsquarters is– a wild spinach."
Back to Janet;
Dandelion (another Aster!!!) came from Eurasia. Chines call it "earth nail"!!! Japan - 200 ornamental varieties. Greek genus name means: remedy for disorder. Species name means "sold in shops". John Gerard in the Herball: "Boiled - strengthens the weake stomacke; raw stops the belliw and helps the dysentery"

Ground ivy
"brings me great delight". Ivy like mint in the mint family. Gerald says it was put in ale casks. It can cover cfileds and climb hedges, so I would say it is a no no. Janet loves that it stays green in winter (so maybe I will leave it ini the lawn where it is mowed down before it flowers)

Trumpet vine
Native to us. Part of the Bignoniaceae, the Trumpet Creeper family (catlpas.

virginia Creeper & wild clematis or virgin's bower
Native.
Creeper: The leaves turn deep red which signals birds that the fruit is ready and they alight to feast on drupes and berries -mutualism. Not too pushy a plant.
Clematis: Totally grabby plant. a lawn mower kept it within bounds (at her moms). Belongs to buttercup family - Ranunculaceae.

Immigrant plants
I am listing possible edible ones .
amaranth - redroot pigweed - S. Amer.
bindweed - Europe
burdock - europe
red clover - North Africa, asia, europe, india
henbit - europe and africa
lamb's quarters - pigweed - goosefoot - eurasia (delicious. Wild Spinach. mess of greens from spring till frost. gather the tender leaves, boil briefly, drain, butter, hard cooked egg and vinegar. High in A and C, ca, K and Ph. Seeds great for birds, squirrels and chipmunks. Was cultivated at Iron Age towns in Denmark. Seeds can be ground for flour or eaten whole.)
mallow - europe (Gerard: leaves against insect bites and prevents bites)
wild onion/garlic, crow garlic - europe
winter cress, yellow rocket - europe (mustard family. Gather before winter is out and add to salad. Bitter after flowers up.

NATIVES:
bur cucumber, cinquefois, fleabane (eastern daisy), goldenrod, horse nettle, nutrass, plantain, pokeweed, sicklepod, spanish needles, spurge, blue violet, confederate vioset (woolly violet), wood sorrel. Many of these are edible, too. she cuts back the violets after they bloom and they bloom again in the fall.