Green is good...

Green is amazing! And everything green is on my mind! About a month ago we closed on our first home and it has been pretty great so far. There is a lot of greenery which I had been missing terribly since my move to Ohio from Mass. Within a couple weeks the snow starting melting and everything started growing. It was making me so happy!

I started to notice all the things sprouting from the ground. Which made me even happier. I have always been super interested in edible wild plants. And as I was walking around outside I spotted this,



I am pretty sure it is wild onion but someone feel free to comment and tell me otherwise if you think not! Make sure you really know your edibles before eating wild plants though! Wild onion does have some very similar look alikes that you would not want to eat (if it doesn't smell like onion do not eat)! You can harvest the tops before flowers appear and the bulbs in spring and fall. I'm sure you can use these just the way you use regular onions.



Just thought I'd add a picture of the onions out of the dirt. It is pretty much impossible to pull them out of the ground. I had to dig them up with a shovel to get the whole plant roots and all.

I walked around some more and saw this,



Garlic Mustard! And it is everywhere! You can harvest the young leaves, blossoms and seed pods in spring and early summer. You can eat it as a raw salad or steam it. You can boil it then add a little salt and butter or use it with meat and veggies for garlic flavor too.

As the spring has gone on more and more things have popped up and are of course growing everywhere and everything is getting huge! Here is a pic of the Garlic Mustard today my son as comparison in height.



And he is a tall 4 year old too!



One of the other things I found was what I believe to be Wintercress. I did not take a pic of it though in its natural growing spot. You can harvest leaves in spring until flower stalks appear. Leaves blanch and lose bitterness if you tie them in a bundle with the plant still rooted and cover with a bucket. Pick flowers and buds until blooming is over (April or May). Use early and blanched leaves in salads.

Buds and flowers are excellent with cheese sauce. Cover clusters with boiling water for 1 min. Drain, cover with fresh boiling water, heat, and boil 3 min more. Drain, season,and cool for 5 min.

Well I decided I wanted to move some of the onions and Wintercress to a spot I know my hubby wont mow over. So me and my 4 yr old dug up a spot in the yard (was not fun as this ground was hard and full of roots) and transplanted the onions first. Now these guys are huge! That is one half of my full size shovel on the ground next to them.


Then we dug up the Wintercress and moved them to their new home too.




And here is my son watering them. I love his watering plant face. He likes to water the tops of the plants instead of wetting the dirt. I have tried to explain it to him but it's ok, he is my good little helpy helper (one of my nick names for him)!



This photo is the next day and unfortunately the onions dont look like they are doing too good (also didn't get to watering them until way to late in the day, keeping my fingers crossed they make it!)but I wanted to give another size comparison on how big the Wintercress is.



I also transplanted some Thistle known also as Blessed Thistle. Thistle is a protective plant and I thought the plants I transplanted could use some protection while hopefully growing stronger in their new spot. There is also Thistle all around our house (except I didn't see any in the back of the house). It seems to be only growing very close to the sides of the house which I am so happy about. Can never complain about a little added protection!



I just had to add a pic of one on the side of the house. It is the second biggest one growing.




And then last but not least tons of Dandelion! All parts of this plant, root, leaf and flower are edible! And I personally love it in my lawn. I don't care if everyone on earth thinks it is ugly in your yard, I don't! Look at the color....



My son picking them, he loves them too :). And he definitely likes them when they turn to "fluff".





What can I say I love my yard and all that grows in it! I can't wait till I can get my veggie garden going! That will be another post...