The Weed I Never Pull

There’s a summer weed I always let grow in the garden, and it is called Purslane. Purslane is a summer annual that sprouts up in early summer amongst my planted vegetables, and thrives all Summer in the Lowcountry heat.

An annual is a type of plant that completes a life cycle within one year. Meaning it sprouts from a seed, vegetates, flowers, sets seed, and dies all in a year. That same plant won’t re-sprout the following season. New plants will grow from the seeds the previous plant set.

When it comes to weeds in the garden, I always want to know what I’m pulling and why. Sometimes plants have medicinal value, soil building properties, or they provide mulch when I cut them back. Therefore I don’t consider everything a weed that I don’t plant, and sometimes I’m delighted to have them volunteer in my little patch of Earth. Purslane is a weed I always let grow because it is so so delicious and very highly nutritious!