Seven edible weeds: foraging in your garden

Beds have been hoed, spring bulbs deadheaded and hedges pruned. Thanks to life under lockdown, gardens across the UK are probably starting to look immaculate by now.

But while most people wage war on weeds at this time of year, not many stop to consider whether they're edible. What's more, some of these common plants are also delicious and nutritious. From a generous gathering of nettle leaves to an experimental scattering of flowers - our back gardens can be unlikely but rewarding places for a foraging foray.

Here are seven easy-to-identify and common edible garden weeds to get you started. Before you do, never eat anything you’re not 100% sure of and make sure your garden hasn't been sprayed with any chemicals. Read our safe foraging guidelines.

Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale)

How to identify dandelion

• Leaves form a rosette and are long and divided into teeth.
• Flower stem rises from the centre of the leaves and is topped by a large bright yellow flower head which closes at night. Each flower head is made up of mass of tiny flowers, known as florets.
• Flower heads turn into round balls of fluffy seeds known as 'clocks'. The whole plant contains a milky fluid known as latex.

How to use

Its flowers are most widely used to make dandelion wine, but all parts of the plant are edible, both raw and cooked. Add the slightly bitter young leaves to salads, sandwiches or pies.

Flowers can be used in many dishes from risotto to omelettes, for decoration and to make beer, wine and syrup. Unopened buds can be marinated and used like capers.

Roots can also be thrown into stir-fries or added to vegetable dishes, or try making dandelion coffee by drying then grinding the roots.

Nettle (Urtica dioica)

How to identify nettle

• Herbaceous perennial which grows as an upright plant to 2 m tall.
• Soft, serrated leaves are opposite each other in pairs on the stem. The leaves and the rest of the plant are coated in stinging and non-stinging hairs.
• Tiny greenish-white flowers clustered towards the top of the stem.

How to use

The favoured leaves to pick are the tips – they’re tender and give the best flavour. You can use gloves to avoid being stung.

The leaves have a flavour similar to spinach. You can use nettle in the same way as spinach or to make tea, beer or soup (try creamy nettle and potato). Or try adding a handful of young nettle leaves to home-made pesto.

Chickweed (Stellaria media)

How to identify chickweed

• Low, creeping plant with very slender, weak stems.
• Leaves are arranged opposite to each other and are small, delicate and oval to round with pointed tips. Sometimes they have small hairs.
• Flowers are white and star-shaped with five very deeply divided petals (so deeply divided it looks like there are 10 petals).

How to use

Pick the young, fresh leaves as they are most tender. They can be added to salads with lemon and olive oil dressing. Blend into homemade pesto, or use to liven up fish or chicken.

The tiny white, edible flowers make a pretty salad garnish.

Hairy bittercress (Cardamine hirsuta)

How to identify hairy bittercress

• Leaves are divided into small, green and rounded leaflets arranged opposite each other.
• Leaves are covered in tiny hairs.
• Tiny white flowers develop at the ends of the vertical stems which shoot up from the centre of the leaf rosette. They turn into long seedpods.

How to use

All parts of the plant can be eaten when young. Pick leaves and flowers from the middle of the plant and wash well. Since they grow low to the ground they're often gritty or dusty. It has a hot, peppery flavour, great for salads, soups, salsa, pesto or as a substitute for cress or rocket.

Goosegrass (Galium aparine)

How to identify goosegrass

• Stems are square in cross section and covered in hooked hairs.
• Leaves are small, thin and hairy and they grow in small rosettes along the vertical stem.
• Flowers are tiny and white with four petals. Seeds are small, round and covered in hairs.

How to use

If you’re going to eat this plant as a vegetable, pick the leaves and shoots when really young. Cook it as a green vegetable or add to soups, stews and pies.

You can also eat the seeds (this plant is in the same family as coffee). Wait until they’ve hardened, then roast and grind as a coffee substitute.

Garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata)

How to identify garlic mustard

• It's a biennial plant. In the first year the leaves form a clump, and in the second year it produces flowers.
• Leaves are triangular to heart-shaped and toothed along the edges.
• Small white flowers are produced in clusters at the top of the flower spike. They develop into elongated seed pods.

How to use

Its leaves have a mild, peppery garlic flavour. Pick them when they're young, thin and vibrant green. Chop them as a herb to add to soups, dressings, casseroles or sauces. You can also add leaves to salads and sandwiches (especially cheese).

Roots of established plants can be chopped in place of horseradish.

Ground elder (Aegopodium podagraria)

How to identify ground elder

• Often forms thick carpets in shady places low to the ground under trees and among borders.
• Leaves resemble elder leaves and each is divided into three leaflets.
• If left to grow, it can reach to a metre in height and develops umbrella-shaped clusters of white flowers.

How to use

It's a very versatile plant with a similar flavour to parsley that goes well with fish. Eat the young leaves and shoots raw or add to salads and sandwiches.

You can cook the leaves in a similar way to spinach by steaming or softening in butter. Or add them to anything you're making like soups, stews, bubble and squeak and pasta dishes.