Lost in the Farmers Market

Welcome to the LITFM weekly blog. This blog is a text-based complement to the LITFM YouTube channel and covers the forage food side of gardening. It is my goal to make gardening and forage food accessible for all while promoting good land stewardship and sustainable practices by providing honest and balanced information backed by verifiable scientific fact. Since this blog now focuses on wild plants or ‘weeds’ we will be taking an objective look at them and their uses. Thank you for reading.

Thursday, April 10, 2025

Catchweed Bedstraw II

Note from the Author: This is an update on a weed I covered on June 2^nd, 2022, a bit incorrectly on October 6^th 2022 and briefly on March 11^th 2012.

This specimen is trying it's best to pretend it's something FTCC intentionally planted...sneaky!

Note how it's climbing up the wall, this is due to the tiny hairs it has.

A pretty young specimen photographed in March of this year.

Common Name: Catchweed Bedstraw

Other Common Names: Cleavers, Goosegrass, Stickyweed, Sticky Willy (Oh Myyy!), Robin-Run-The-Hedge and, Velcro Plant.

Botanical Family: Rubiaceae (The Coffee Family)

Botanical Latin Name: Galium aparine

Description & Habitat: Catchweed Bedstraw is a non-native annual plant that tends to germinate in the spring and may persist well into summer. It is best known for its ‘sticky’ foliage which is covered with tiny hooked hairs that allow it to cling to things. Catchweed Bedstraw is also known for its radial arrangement of leaves which are elliptical in shape and can appear in whorls that can include up to nine leaves. The flowers on this plant are small and white and have four petals and kind of resemble a very tiny dogwood flower. Typically you will find this plant growing in or near bigger hedges or shrubs, areas with somewhat disturbed soil, beside buildings and occasionally in garden beds. In the wilderness you might find it in sites with moist soil, in rich woodlands, along streams, lakes or in vacant lots or fields. Before we look at any other detail, let’s talk about that common name ‘Catchweed Bedstraw’. This name is one of the few you’ll find in horticulture that are absolutely straightforward about a plant. The ‘Catchweed’ part refers to the fact that this plant has tiny hooked hairs all over its foliage which allows it to catch on to things including and not limited to, your hair, your pet’s fur, other plants and most other things that come into contact with it. The other common names for this plant that include an adjective like ‘sticky’ refer to the same feature which exists so this plant can scramble over other plants to reach the light. However for this plant’s seeds it allows them to potentially be carried to other places by animals or on your clothing. The ‘Bedstraw’ part of the name refers to the original use for the plant, as it was used to stuff mattresses. This was very important because once dried the herbs would not flatten fully and their essential oils helped repel fleas. But the Latin name of this plant also is interesting as (Galium aparine) is unique. The name ‘Galium comes from Dioscorides name for the plant. It is derived from the Greek word for milk because at one point either the flowers or foliage were used to curdle milk in order to make cheese. The specific epithet ‘Aparine’ comes from Theophrastus, and it means clinging or seizing, and originates in a similar Greek word.

When & What to Harvest: With Catchweed bedstraw, all of the foliage and the seeds are useful. Ideally you want to harvest the foliage before the plant sets seed and if after just harvest the seeds.

Edible Related Plants: The most famous relative is the garden herb known as Sweet Woodruff (G. odoratum).

Similar Dangerous Species: None are known.

Recipe:

For those Coffee substitute fans out there, here is how you turn the seeds of this plant into Coffee.

1. Gather the fruits/seeds of this plant in June and July just as they turn visibly brown.

2. Roast the fruits/seeds in an over at 300 degrees Fahrenheit until they are dark and crispy which should take about an hour.

3. Pulverize these seeds in a blender, coffee grinder or on any hard surface.

4. Store the ground results in an airtight container and use as if it were coffee.

Additional Information: (If applicable)

https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/galium-aparine/

Where to get seed or Bare Root Plants:

https://mountainroseherbs.com/cleavers-seeds?srsltid=AfmBOopmnfUJg1VMWeNb1Q-FKyhwV3Nrb5JqOg6tvmvcfkY1f9U9-KlD

With all that garden goodness covered this is the part of the blog where I have to advertise for the Fayetteville City Market. Now I know you readers probably don’t much like advertisements, but my booth at the City Market helps to cover the costs of running the test garden and literally maintains the Research & Development budget that is used to bring you the information that has made up the backbone of this blog. In addition to being able to process card payments we now take CashApp payments so your payment options for my product have tripled. With that said; if you want to get some GMO-free, Organic fruit, herbs, flowers and perennials, come on down to the Fayetteville City Market on 325 Maxwell Street in downtown Fayetteville between the hours of 9:00 am and 1:00 pm on Saturdays. Even in bad weather the market goes on though you might have to look for me under the ‘arches’ of the Transportation Museum’s front entryway.

For those of you wondering what plants are going to be at the market this weekend here is the list.

Spring Garden Plants:

Swiss Chard, Red

Tomato, Cherokee Purple

Tomato, Chocolate Cherry

Tomato, Midnight Snack

Tomato, Lemon Boy

Tomato, Sungold

Pepper, Shishito

Pepper, Ghost

Sorrel, Raspberry Dressing

Mustard, Mizuna

Chia

Ground Cherries, Perennial

Soil Amendment Products:

Carolina Gold, Live Mushroom Compost – 18 Gallon Tote*

Carolina Gold, Live Mushroom Compost – 3 Gallon Bag

Carolina Gold, Live Mushroom Compost – 1 Gallon Bag

Carolina Gold, Enhanced Potting Soil – 1 Gallon Bag

*The 18 gallon tote is by special order only and is delivered to any address within the Fayetteville city area.

How to stay in Contact with Us!

All you need to keep up with all our activities is to have a Nextdoor account and to look for the ‘Sustainable Neighbors of Fayetteville’ group and ask to join! You don’t have to live in Fayetteville to join us! Feel free to ask all your garden questions of our knowledgeable membership and post your cool garden pictures.

Sustainable Neighbors of Fayetteville

Also please take a gander at the YouTube version of this blog:

The Videos: Look Here

>Newest videos (3): Dill, Black Widow Spiders, Plaintain-Leaved Pussytoes.

Meetings are still going on! Our next (unofficial) meeting is April 12^th at the Fayetteville City Market at 325 Franklin Street between 9:00 am and 1:00 pm.

Thursday, April 3, 2025

Silver Dollar Plant II

Note from the Author: This is an update on a weed I briefly covered on January 25^th 2019, June 14^th 2019 and, January 11^th 2020.

This image of the Tuberous roots of Silver Dollar Plant, comes from the wikipedia page for the plant.

This specimen has appeared behind my compost bins, I'm not to upset about this.

Take a look at that foliage!

A close up of the four-petal flowers.

Common Name: Silver Dollar Plant

Other Common Names: Canada Lettuce, Canada Wild Lettuce, Wild Lettuce.

Botanical Family: Brassicaceae (The Cabbage Family)

Botanical Latin Name: Lunnaria annua

Description & Habitat: Silver Dollar Plant is typically found in or near former gardens where it has escaped cultivation and while not considered to be invasive it is a non-native introduced herbaceous biennial. The best way to identify this plant is by the flowers in the second year which have the standard four petals common to cabbage family members. The flowers can be purple, lavender, pink or white, though typical plants grown from purchased seed tend to be some shade of purple. The leaves on the flower stalks of this plant are clasping but overall are heart shaped. Leaves lower on the plant are heart shaped but will have a petiole of varying length. All leaves will have a toothed margin though younger first-year plants may have less pronounced teeth in their leaf margins. This plant will produce swollen roots to allow it to survive for more than one year, and all parts of the plant above ground with exception to the flowers are fuzzy. In some publications this plant may be listed as (Lunaria biennis).

When & What to Harvest: In the first year you can harvest the root or the foliage, in the second year the unripe green seed pods, some of the leaves are safe to harvest for food. The fired seedpods can be harvested in the second year for decorations.

Edible Related Plants: Aside from known members of the cabbage family, Black Mustard (Brassica nigra), Wintercress (Barbarea vulgaris), Upland Cress (B. verna), Garlic Mustard (Alliaria petiolata), Swine Cress (Cardamine hirsuta).