What's that plant? v. 2
As promised, another plant from the yard to follow the #dailychicken! I'm trying to learn what's going on here in order to know what to cultivate and what to mow, as well as gatherimg information about my soil by knowing what's growing!
Yesterday's plant is Spanish Feverfew, thanks @joesal for that one! I'll be looking into it today to see if it's something I should be cultivating, but your warning of neurotoxicity has me thinking I know the answer already... In reward for your help, I'll be buying you a @treeplanter vote!
Steepshot
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YES!
@elfmyselfandi showed me a whole free course once with hundreds of hours of content and hundreds of pages on permaculture, but it's been lost to the depths of the blockchain now.
Thank you! I'm coming up on the point where a course will be incredibly helpful.
There is a free course out that is heavily advertised, but I would stay away from it. the regenerative institute or something like that.
if I find a link to a good one, I'll let you know.
Its good to grow ,its a great hobby ,keep posting your adventures in your garden ,seeing forth for your post
my post https://steemit.com/smartphonephotography/@hira-bashir/4sxret-my-school-story
howdy sir nateonsteemit this fine Monday! I have no idea what that plant is, I'd just mow it like I do everything else, who knows what I'm killing with the mower?
LOL!
That's what I'm trying to figure out. If something will grow readily here and be beneficial, I'll keep it! That means I can love more sustainably off of my land with less effort!
howdy tonight sir nateonsteemit! yes sir that's an excellent strategy!
That ones difficult, I really am not sure but it is likely one of three things:
1-Indian berry (also found it under pigeonberry)
2-false mallow or Texas mallow
3-a type of speedwell I haven't yet identified(not even sure if it is speedwell)
If it is Indian berry it will make clusters of red berries about 1/8" to 3/16" diameter. It will typically grow directly upright with only a stem or two. The berries are poison to humans (berries don't have much taste anyhow), but birds love them. Very hardy plant, it likes the shade, I usually leave a few growing for the wild birds. Supposedly the berries make a really nice red clothing dye. It dyes the fingers pretty well when thinning them out of a garden.
If it is the false Mallow, the leaves will become more rigid and elongated, it will grow to about 12" high, expanding in many directions from many stiff stems. Put on yellow flowers that make pods about like Tomatillos(but they don't taste at all like tomatillos)
The speedwell only grows to about 8 inches tall and falls over and eventually perishes to lack of water. Stems stay flexible and translucent green throughout life cycle.
My money is on Indian berry.
Almost looks like basil to me. I'll take a whiff of it when I get out again. I don't know if it gets as tall as any of those, but I'll let it grow a while to test it.
I haven't seen basil make pointed leaves, but there are many varieties. Usually it won't sprout this time of year. It is rare that it reseeds or self seeds to a second year.
I highly recommend it though, as it is a good to graze plant. I use it for smellum also, just pluck a leaf and rub it through the hair and on my arms like cologne.
Yeah, it's definitely not basil. I'm thinking it is Florida Pusley, but I need to wait til it flowers to be sure. It's a low plant.
Pusley has some pretty sharp leaf tips, I guess I'm pretty sold on it being Indian berry, as I have seen tons of that stuff pop up after rain events.
A fun fact about indian berry is that the way it grows/develops it creates a weak area in the stem near the ground, so when one attempts to pull it out of the ground, it snaps off right at the ground surface, leaving the root zone intact to create new stems.
I agree, not pursley. It's gonna get a bit of time to grow out and mature before I chop it. I'm hoping it's something I can feed the chickens. There's lots of it around!
It's chickweed!
Been a while, but I wanted to wait for it to flower. I'm 94% sure it's chickweed.
Did it flower?
Sure did!
https://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/newsletters/hortupdate/2011/jan_feb/garden_weeds.html
Waiting to mow til after they seed. They seem a beneficial species to have around. Spinach substitute and can feed the chickens too.
Ah, that's the stuff I was calling speedwell. There was some reason I didn't identify it as chickweed, I think maybe it was that chickweed typically has white flowers or something along those lines.
As a side note, that stuff reproduces like mad.
(I hope your right, as I have bushels of that stuff growing and haven't identified to any certainty.)
Yeah, every time I looked up "yellow flower chickweed" it would tell me about yellow pimpernel. But this stuff isn't yellow pimpernel; way wrong flowers and it has hairs. Then I saw the link from A&M that confirmed that they can have yellow flowers too.
Might go get some later and make an omelette. The chickens seem to like it. If it's poison and they're dead, I won't eat it. ;)
Birds can survive toxins that humans can't, so using them as a indicator is probably hazardous. ;)
Try a image search on this one:
Calyptocarpus vialis
What ya think of it?
Omg that's it!!! Horseherb!