Although some consider it a weed, several years ago, I planted purple lambsquarter. Lambsquarter is a great, edible, xeriscape plant, and in addition to eating it, and trimming some into small landscape trees, in the past few years, I’ve begun harvesting the stalks, drying them, and using them as support poles, for vining plants. The over 9ft tall plants are currently gracing the side of the garage. The stalks on the mature plants are sturdy, thick, and purple and green striped. This year I’m thinking of trimming the branches off all the stalks, and leaving some of them in the ground, to use for snap peas to climb, in the spring.
Don’t throw the trimmings away. Use the nutrient dense leaves like you would spinach, cooked or raw, they are delicious in soups, salads, quiches…….
Lambsquarter reseeds readily, so having a crop the next year is not a problem. To keep reseeding manageable, make sure to trim plants, as they go to seed.
Mother Earth News recipes and information on lambsquarter, click here.