This week’s weed is Purslane. A weed often confused with Prostrate Spurge the difference between the two is the leaves are thicker and more succulent than Spurge. According to the CSU Extension Site, Purslane is easily pulled out and killed by herbicides when the plant is young in spring. It is much harder to pull out once it is mature and from drier soil – essentially you won’t get all the roots and it will come back. You also want to either kill or pull when young before the plants start to flower since they produce large amounts of seeds. A pre-emergent in rock and mulch areas is the best practice to prevent this prolific weed from emerging in order to get control.
Or you can eat them! My daughters and I tasted some since they are popping through my mulch in our vegetable garden and my girls liked them! They wanted to eat more right then, but it might have been a ploy to not go to bed, so I said we would make a salad tomorrow and they were excited.
