# We ate our lawn. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 24, 2010, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-ate-our-lawn/537178 "2010-04-24T03:01:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2010, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-ate-our-lawn/537178/1 "2010-04-24T03:01:31Z")
To the consternation of my neighbors, I like wildflowers and have a strong dislike for pesticides. I don’t think my lawn looks bad at all-- so long as we keep it mowed. Tomorrow, Hubby will give the lawn the first mow of the year. Soooo. . . why not grab all the edible goodies out there before they are cut down and have a salad? From the store: Romaine lettuce, poblano peppers (roasted at home), garlic (sauteed lightly in butter), cucumbers and tomatoes. From the garden: Leaf spinach From the lawn: dandelion greens, wild garlic, wild onion and wild violets. [We also got a nice bouquet of daffodils and tulips.](http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v19/Biggirl/Eat%20The%20Lawn/) I had wanted to candy some violets but those things wilt very, very quickly. You’ve got to have the candy-ing ready before you cut them. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2010, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-ate-our-lawn/537178/2 "2010-04-24T03:16:16Z")
Good for you. Have you thought about abandoning the “lawn” and just growing a [garden](http://books.google.com/books?id=i0Kml29rA8kC&pg=PA141&lpg=PA141&dq=front+garden+edible+plants&source=bl&ots=HDqodUeqVr&sig=BT5TmosKhcrsVI2AEEajLtAr2d4&hl=en&ei=RWLSS7ORCZTC8wTQ_onLDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CAYQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=front%20garden%20edible%20plants&f=false)? ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2010, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-ate-our-lawn/537178/3 "2010-04-24T03:41:20Z")
Ha! Every spring when I mow my lawn, there is a very strong smell of onions. I’ve got a few patches of wild onion growing in the front and on the side. One year, my mom did pull some up and use them. I bow to your lawn-weed feast!!! ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2010, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-ate-our-lawn/537178/4 "2010-04-24T03:53:04Z")
Too bad Euell Gibbons has passed on, he could probably find a dozen edibles growing on the average lawn. I have spearmint running rampant on mine, wild black raspberries, stinging nettles and the occasional ear of corn that sprouts from birdseed, and bushel baskets of this stuff that I pull up - [http://en.wikipedia.org. /wiki/Glechoma\_hederacea](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glechoma_hederacea) Foul smelling minty stuff that is supposed to be edible. ---
**Author:** ![dwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwyr/32/363_2.png) [@dwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwyr)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2010, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-ate-our-lawn/537178/5 "2010-04-24T05:15:06Z")
Excellent! And tasty too I bet. I used to make wine out of mine. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2010, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-ate-our-lawn/537178/6 "2010-04-24T05:35:15Z")
My dad loves wild onions, and used to pull them up as he was walking around the neighborhood. Why not eat them, if they don’t have pesticide on them? The daffodils and tulips are lovely. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2010, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-ate-our-lawn/537178/7 "2010-04-24T05:52:35Z")
For additional fun start throwing some herb seeds amongst it all. Most herbs are tougher than other garden plants and, like weeds, will grow in really crappy soil. A patch of thyme will go crazy in no time at all - a real bonus for those who like chicken. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2010, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-ate-our-lawn/537178/8 "2010-04-24T07:24:42Z")
Dandelion flowers battered and fried are awesome (I picked that up from the SDMB a while back) Nettles are good too - at their best right now. Nettle soup (just onion, potato, stock, nettles, blended) tastes like it ought to be expensive. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2010, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-ate-our-lawn/537178/9 "2010-04-24T07:26:33Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > tastes like it ought to be expensive. Nice turn of phrase. I’ll steal that. And claim the credit ---
**Author:** ![Sutremaine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e495f1/32.png) [@Sutremaine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sutremaine)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2010, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-ate-our-lawn/537178/10 "2010-04-25T02:34:59Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Dandelion flowers battered and fried are awesome (I picked that up from the SDMB a while back) That sounds good, and there are a ton of dandelions on the road in front of the house. It’s a main road, but it’s quiet enough that you can cross it any time of day within a minute or so. Sometimes it’s quiet enough during the day that the traffic noise fades entirely. I think they’d be alright to eat, since they’d be washed beforehand. Right? ---
**Author:** ![dwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwyr/32/363_2.png) [@dwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwyr)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2010, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-ate-our-lawn/537178/11 "2010-04-25T05:20:05Z")
> [@Sutremaine](#): > > That sounds good, and there are a ton of dandelions on the road in front of the house. It’s a main road, but it’s quiet enough that you can cross it any time of day within a minute or so. Sometimes it’s quiet enough during the day that the traffic noise fades entirely. I think they’d be alright to eat, since they’d be washed beforehand. Right? I have read that plants growing very near roadways can pick up various contaminants from the soil. Might want to pick some a bit farther back.