agapoula25
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Is this a weed...?

I planted a bunch of different seeds (vegetables and flowers) in my garden. I made the mistake of not marking what is where.
I now see a couple of these growing. Can anyone tell if it's a weed or is it something else?

https://www.flickr.com/photos/34456476@N02/7184405526/

Thanks

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jal_ut
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It doesn't look like a garden veggie. Pretty robust. Do you have any trees around that drop seeds?

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applestar
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It looks like pokeweed or milkweed shoot, which would be growing from roots rather than seed. Break a leaf and if milky sap comes out, then it's milkweed.

Is it in your garden bed? If you let a patch of milkweed establish in an out-of-the-way area, you may see Monarch butterflies arrive to lay eggs, and eventually, the caterpillars will eat the milkweed, pupate and eclose in your garden. You could start a butterfly garden :D

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rainbowgardener
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But I'm thinking pokeweed, not milkweed.

Here's what it grows up into:



[img]https://www.bumblebeeblog.com/storage/pokeweed.jpg[/img]

It gets BIG. I have an established clump that has been there for a few years and those get 6' tall or more. Birds like those berries. But because of that they spread the seeds around.

So, whether or not it is a weed is in the eye of the beholder. That shoot is actually edible if you pull it now. I think they are very ornamental & birds like them. But it is not something you planted and it will take up a lot of room in your garden.

2cents
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Looks like Poke to me....Where I come from its not considered a weed, it something to eat.
When they are under 1 foot tall(supposedly they become toxic when large), break off the leaves and boil them twice to make a nice spinach type green. Taste good with bacon grease or a ham bone.

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rainbowgardener
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Incidentally, here's your picture:

[img]https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7216/7184405526_9ddd228f26.jpg[/img]

In Flicker, click the Share button.

In the dialogue box that comes up, click Grab the HTML/BBCode

At the bottom where there are radio buttons: HTML BBCode click the BBCode one.

In the box of codes that comes up, copy the one that begins and ends with [img] and paste it in here.

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applestar
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You are probably right about it being pokeweed. It's a perennial and I have one that grows up behind the climbing rose and trumpet honeysuckle trellis against the house. It reaches up to and grows over the first story eave and the trunk (yeah I think you would call it trunk) gets to be about 2" in diameter. I let it weather through the winter and I still have to cut the dead trunk with a saw in spring before new growth starts.

It's a monster but somehow, it's not affecting the rose or the honeysuckle which both compete with the poke to reach up and over the eave :roll: (maybe even keeping the honeysuckle in check).

Pairs and families of cardinals along with other berry loving birds like robins, mockingbirds, and catbirds flock to it when the berries are ripe and pick it clean in no time at all. :lol:

orgoveg
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Pokeweed was the first thing I thought of when I saw the picture, but I didn't think that was correct. The leaves are textured like spinach and there is no red coloring in the stem. I know that you want to collect pokeweed before the red coloring appears, but that plant looks big enough to have already turned red. Thus, I didn't think it was likely to be pokeweed. I definitely don't think it looks like any common cultivated vegetable. Maybe it is poke - I can't be certain.

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!potatoes!
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too much pubescence on the leaves for poke. I'm with milkweed. I'd love to find a bunch that size right about now.

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applestar
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Hehe back to my original suggestion -- break a leaf or stem and check for milky sap. :wink:

mscratch
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young poke..wont achieve coloring on the stem until it matures.



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