How I use herbs - chickweed

Mar 23, 2015by Liz Beavis

Chickweed, Stellaria media,grows very happily in my garden, but its one plant that I never actively planted from seed or a cutting, it just appears. Ostensibly you would expect chickens to eat it, but not my chickens, they prefer lettuce. Fortunately it has other uses, so I don't mind letting it take over a few corners of the garden.

How to grow chickweed
If you're unlucky enough to not be naturally endowed with chickweed in your garden, a quick google search reveals that you can buy seeds. I have no idea where my chickweed came from, it seems to be a common weed in our area, possibly seeds came in soil or were blown here in the wind. Chickweed tends to die back in our hot dry summer, and appears again in winter and after any rain. It spreads quickly and produces teeny tiny flowers (and presumable plenty of seeds). I don't do anything in particular to encourage it, but I can usually find some when I need it.

eight acres: how to grow and use chickweed

How to use chickweed

Feed it to your chickens (if they are less picky than mine)
Use it as a wonderful nitrogen-rich compost material
Use it to soothe skin - in a salve or cold tea, it is known to be cooling and soothing for minor burns, skin irritations, and rashes.
Add it to salads - chickweed is said to also soothe the digestive tract, it doesn't have a strong taste, kind of like lettuce, but slightly sour.

maybe a little too much chickweed!

Chickweed, like purslane, is one of those plants that you probably have in your garden, but didn't realise was useful and edible for both yourself and your livestock (if they are not too picky).

Do you use grow chick weed? Do you use it?

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