Vegetable or weed?

Discussion in 'Plants: Identification' started by Bluecheery99, Sep 2, 2021.

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  1. Bluecheery99

    Bluecheery99 New Member

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    Hi there - we bought a house with a vegetable garden in the back. It was full of collard greens. When we tried to cut them all down (they had been overgrown for years), many of the seeds fell and now we have new microgreens growing. I can recognize the collard greens, but now there are also pointy leaf seedlings. There are so many of them I figured they were also vegetables, but my husband says they are weeds. Please see the photo. I know the rounded leaves are the collard greens.
     

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  2. Daniel Mosquin

    Daniel Mosquin Paragon of Plants UBC Botanical Garden Forums Administrator Forums Moderator 10 Years

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    What do the crushed leaves of the pointy ones smell like?
     
  3. Margot

    Margot Renowned Contributor 10 Years

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    I wonder if they could be a type of impatiens?
     
  4. Daniel Mosquin

    Daniel Mosquin Paragon of Plants UBC Botanical Garden Forums Administrator Forums Moderator 10 Years

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    They do have that look, yes.
     
  5. Sulev

    Sulev Contributor

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  6. Bluecheery99

    Bluecheery99 New Member

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    They don't have a distinctive smell.
     
  7. Daniel Mosquin

    Daniel Mosquin Paragon of Plants UBC Botanical Garden Forums Administrator Forums Moderator 10 Years

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    No distinctive smell suggests not Brassicaceae or Solanaceae -- so maybe they are indeed the Impatiens as was suggested.
     
  8. Bluecheery99

    Bluecheery99 New Member

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    I am worried it is a weed. It has taken over all the collard greens. There is a little flower coming out. See photo.
     

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  9. Margot

    Margot Renowned Contributor 10 Years

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    I am puzzled that the 'pointy leaf seedling' you were asking about in your OP had serrated leaves and the plant in your photo today shows smooth edged leaves. The veins on the leaves are not the same either.

    Is it possible that they are different plants?

    possible weed (2).JPG [​IMG]
     
  10. Sulev

    Sulev Contributor

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    Stellaria media?
     
  11. Margot

    Margot Renowned Contributor 10 Years

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    This would be a very unusual time of year for Stellaria media (chickweed) to bloom.
     
    Last edited: Sep 6, 2021
  12. Sulev

    Sulev Contributor

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    Both Gallant soldier (Galinsoga) and Chickweed (Stellaria) are nasty weeds, that germinate throughout the vegetation period and develop into flowering plants until they finally freeze in the winter. Chickweed is hardier than Gallant soldier, it can survive pretty long even under the snow cover.
    On the first photo of OP, both weeds are present. There Chickweed sprouts are still tiny, I thought that the question was about the larger weed. Both are pretty common weeds, cosmopolits.
     
  13. Daniel Mosquin

    Daniel Mosquin Paragon of Plants UBC Botanical Garden Forums Administrator Forums Moderator 10 Years

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    Ah, yeah, the small stuff is chickweed. I thought you were asking about the larger leaves instead.
     
  14. AlainK

    AlainK Renowned Contributor Forums Moderator Maple Society 10 Years

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    You said it was a vegetable garden : the ones with larger leaves made me think of a cabbage of some sort.
     

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