Feed the weeds and the weeds feed you

Over the past year or so farming neighbours have dumped nearby  heaps of soil/spoil removed from a building project. I've been closely monitoring these mounds of grit to watch the growth of vegetation as it develops over the course of the year.

Now the mounds are covered with greenery - weeds if you like, or (as I see it)  opportunistic plant pioneers.

There's a huge amount of Pineapple Weed (Matriciana discoidea) with feathery leaves and flowers that have no petals, hence its alternative name Rayless Chamomile - one of the many my father taught me as a small child and I never forgot. It's called Pineapple Weed because it smells of pineapple and its peculiar flowers could be said to resemble the fruit in miniature. It's edible: you can use it for tea, add the leaves to salad or even make a sort of jam with the flowers.

Also present is  pink Bistort (Polygonum bistorta), a member of the dock family with  little bottle brush-shaped flower heads - another plant quick to colonise bare ground. Curiously it has a long history as the main ingredient of 'dock pudding' * a traditional spring speciality in West Yorkshire and Cumbria (where it's known as Easter ledge pudding). The recipe which combines young bistort leaves with nettles, onions and oatmeal, probably originated as a concoction to fill the hungry gap when  garden greens were over.

I didn't make use of either today but I did make some Elderflower Delight which is a gorgeously scented summertime treat.

* Dock Pudding

Exras: Closer look at pineapple weed and bistort plus the  Delight.