Weed of the Day No. 13 - Vetch
There was a time when my definition of a weed was "plants with no value". Now that I've started identifying and researching these green pests, I've discovered just how wrong I am about the useless part. Take today's plant for example. Vetch, a member of the Vicia genus, is a cover crop that escaped into the wild and now grows in places it shouldn't. That is what makes Vetch a weed, but it's certainly got a host of uses.
Vetch can be sown in the garden in the fall as a cover crop and it will help fix the nitrogen into the soil. Vetch is a great food source for livestock, although if critters get too carried away eating it, they could end up with stomach trouble. Vicia faba, one of the many species of Vetch, is even a tasty edible for humans. We know this plant better as Fava beans. Chianti anyone?
About the worst thing I can say about vetch is that it looks messy climbing all over my other plants. It's pretty easy to spot in the garden. The pointed leaves alternate up the stem and the vine sends out tendrils, much like peas, to support it's climbing habit. It has small purple flowers that bloom fairly early in the season and usually fade out with the summer heat.
I can't say for certain, but I think the variety climbing all over my hostas is Common Vetch or Vicia sativa. It's fairly easy to pull up, but do so with caution. The tendrils have generally grabbed hold of the plant you want left alone and you run the risk of pulling up parts that the vetch is attached to. It's always bigger than I think it will be too. Whenever I pull up the little vines growing up in the sun, I discover miles of the stuff hidden beneath the leaves of all the other plants in the garden. Who knows? Maybe next year when the veggie garden is in place I'll use one of the varieties that Johnny's sells as my cover crop.
Vetch can be sown in the garden in the fall as a cover crop and it will help fix the nitrogen into the soil. Vetch is a great food source for livestock, although if critters get too carried away eating it, they could end up with stomach trouble. Vicia faba, one of the many species of Vetch, is even a tasty edible for humans. We know this plant better as Fava beans. Chianti anyone?
About the worst thing I can say about vetch is that it looks messy climbing all over my other plants. It's pretty easy to spot in the garden. The pointed leaves alternate up the stem and the vine sends out tendrils, much like peas, to support it's climbing habit. It has small purple flowers that bloom fairly early in the season and usually fade out with the summer heat.
I can't say for certain, but I think the variety climbing all over my hostas is Common Vetch or Vicia sativa. It's fairly easy to pull up, but do so with caution. The tendrils have generally grabbed hold of the plant you want left alone and you run the risk of pulling up parts that the vetch is attached to. It's always bigger than I think it will be too. Whenever I pull up the little vines growing up in the sun, I discover miles of the stuff hidden beneath the leaves of all the other plants in the garden. Who knows? Maybe next year when the veggie garden is in place I'll use one of the varieties that Johnny's sells as my cover crop.
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2 comments:
Glad to know it is of some use. It seems to strangle things in my yard. I try to pull it up and always leave a bit of root in the ground and it comes back.
Hi,
So nice to experience a little vicarious visit to Gorham through your site. (My mom grew up there, in the white house next to Amato's on Main St. -- it's a tanning salon now, i guess.) Our branch of the family is mostly in CA now, but most of us still visit in the summer. Was just there in late July/early August in fact, though not in Gorham -- in York, and up to Thompson Lake.
Anyway, happy gardening. (Everything's SO much greener there ...)
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