Weeds in the garden: mid-winter 2015

Ever wondered what some of the weedy plants are that are growing in the garden, and maybe even in your plot? We try to point out the good and bad ones when we first give a plot away, but seasons change. Here are some recent pics of what's growing in the garden in January 2015. Also, UC Davis has a great weed identifier tool.

Awful
bermuda grass (dig out every little piece, it resprouts readily. also, this is the only weed not to compost unless you let it dry out for a couple of months till it's brown and very dead).

thistle (spiny, so pull with leather gloves or cut the top off with a stirrup hoe)

fennel (DEEP tap root, probably more realistic to keep adults in check than dig out, little ones should definitely be pulled)

english ivy (pull the vines, and also dig out the underground rhizome)

Bad (I pull these whenever I can; compost them if they don't have seeds, haul to the green waste dumpster if they do)

asparagus asparagoides, a vining plant with an underground tuber, invasive, spread by birds, dig it out. First photo is from Watne/CCBER, other 2 are from CAL-IPC showing what can happen if it gets bad!

 

 
cheeseweed / mallow (the seeds remain viable for a long time, so pull it before it gets big. it has a long tap root so you may have to dig it out. the leaves are edible, you cook them like spinach)

wild radish (not sure about edibility)

black mustard (not too much is up right now, but it gets bad in the spring)

rag weed (supposedly [take what Frank says with a grain of salt] you can grab a bunch of it and use it to clean your dishes, hence the 'rag'. otherwise pull repeatedly, the stuff is tenacious

prickly lettuce
(no pic yet)

bristly oxtongue

oxalis - creeping wood sorrel
(no pic yet)

oxalis - bermuda buttercup (these grow from 'corms' in the soil. you have to pull them repeatedly until they eventually stop coming up. moving soil that these plants are in will spread them further. you can chew the fleshy stalk that the yellow flowers grow on if you feel the need for some sourness)

stinging nettle (seems to be new to the garden, very invasive so we have to pull it when we see it; you can eat them - you boil them first which removes the stingers, then steam or saute, i think)

coyote brush (native plant, good in wild areas, not in the garden - super deep roots)

 Mirabilis, 4 o'clock, establishing in the orchard area, seems aggressive/invasive. Has extremely large tubers about a foot down when established, so better to eradicate it before it gets happy

Hairy Rock Cress (arabis) (i think) could also be sweet alyssum

Meh
purslane (summer weed; edible - lemony, not that difficult to control)

lamb's quarter / goosefoot (edible, but not that tasty, fairly easy to control, but worth pulling)

Good
swiss chard (there's lots of volunteer chard in and around the garden, cook it and eat it!)

rhubarb (there's some around the greenhouse)

rosemary (use it! our plant is huge)

arugula (readily self-seeds and comes up as a volunteer)

miscellaneous bulbs (pretty, not invasive)

nasturtium (pretty edible flowers; looks a bit like cheeseweed when both are young)

gopher purge (makes gophers sick if they eat the roots)

coastal california poppy (different from the more famous orange california poppy, more tolerant of our cool, foggy conditions)

this is the orange, inland variety. these get pulled so as to not cross-polinate with the coastal