Weeds: Friend, Foe, or Food?
This post first appeared in our weekly Make Waves Mondays email series on July 20, 2026.
Hello hello friend!
Today's blog post is coming to you from a familiar face and your fellow EcoWarrior, Anna Markee. (You may remember Anna from our guest post all about foodscaping and edible gardens a few years ago!)
Anna is the owner of Markee Ecological Garden Design and an absolute wealth of knowledge on sustainable and regenerative landscaping, so when she suggested today's blog topic of Weeds: Friend, Foe, or Food?, I could not WAIT to see what she had to say.
I love Anna's approach to this concept, because it is so dang in alignment with everything we stand for around here: nothing is black-and-white, and there's no perfect solutions. As long as we're doing what we can, when we can, where we can, and learning and growing along the way, that's what it's all about.
So if you've got a lawn, or a plot in a community garden, or even a family member always complaining about the dandelions in their yard, this one's for you!
So without further ado...let's dive in 👇
Weeds: Friend, Foe, or Food?
A Guest Post by Anna Markee
One of the most common questions people ask me is some variation of, “How do I get rid of XYZ plant?”. I typically respond by asking them why they want to. Puzzled, they respond, “Well, isn’t it bad?”.
I sense the tension in my chest during these conversations because they reflect the deep disconnection most of us have from the rest of the living world. Our ancestors spent tens of thousands of years honing their relationship with plants through careful observation and trial and error to know which can kill us, which support us, and how to gently shape our environment to produce ongoing abundance. And now I watch my neighbor, school district, and public land stewards spray poison from backpacks and wonder, “How did we get here?”
The tension in my chest is grief for what we lost. And yet, the knowledge is still in our DNA. Every gardener I’ve ever met can describe the wonder of putting a seed in the ground and producing food for years to come. Once your eyes are open, you see so many plants around us who can support our wellbeing from food to building materials.
In a highly consumerist society, we have been conditioned to think in terms of what someone/something can do for us or apply a binary good/bad lens. We miss a lot this way. What if, instead, we asked how to relate with a particular plant? What is this plant’s role in our ecosystem, yard, neighborhood? What does this plant need from me to thrive? As Robin Wall Kimmerer writes, “All Flourishing is Mutual”. We won’t have a livable future, if we don’t tend our environment.
Our language reflects our worldview. I hear terms like “invasive” and “native” used primarily by descendants of colonial settlers like me and as I’ve unpacked my own perceptions around these terms, they strike me differently. When I first began gardening, I jumped on the native plant bandwagon. Probably from a layer of white guilt, I imagined some historical past before colonization when our landscape was pristine and hoped to magically opt-out of our modern problems and return to this picturesque imagined past.
But this imagination is a form of psychological genocide; it erases the indigenous peoples who tended this land since time immemorial. And trying to opt-out doesn’t grapple with my own existence here. I still commonly hear people use the word “invasive” to describe certain plants but now I wince and feel the tension in my heart again. The Tacoma Tree Foundation has hosted fantastic discussions about language and learning from plants.
So before you reach for the weed puller or Roundup, slow down and consider a few principles:
Weeds are Gonna Weed
Most of the plants that people consider a weed are just doing their thing as early succession plants. After some type of disturbance, such as clearing plants, raking away leaves, moving an abandoned car, or digging out blackberries, sunlight can reach soil which will cause seeds to sprout. Within the soil, there are gazillions of seeds just waiting for a chance to germinate. This is known as the “seed bank”.
Minimize Disturbance
Given the first principle, if you decide to remove certain plants, do so with as little disturbance to the soil as possible. If you are weeding by hand, use a Hori Hori, a Japanese weeding knife. Stab the root to sever it, and pull the plant out. The last thing you should ever do is roto-till. That brings tons of weed seeds to the surface so that they can sprout. If you clear a large area, be prepared to replant it ASAP and cover the soil with a thick layer of mulch to block sunlight from reaching weed seeds.
Just Say No to Plastic Fabric
This is another heart wrencher. How did we get to a point in which most Americans think it is a good practice to cover our land with sheets of petroleum? There are many books and documentaries about the post-WWII industries that pushed plastic into all aspects of our lives but the worst part is that IT DOESN’T WORK! The plastic breaks down into annoying pieces, plant roots grow right through it, and an endless supply of new weed seeds drop right on top of it and grow. Then, years later, your future self or some poor gardener like me has to spend time tearing it out and taking it to a landfill. The ONLY time I use plastic landscape fabric is between soil and gravel in pathways to prevent it from becoming a muddy mess.
This photo shows black plastic my team recently pulled out from under a lawn.
Just Say No to Poison
Because the US government doesn’t protect us from poison, only you can prevent herbicides from being sprayed in your neighborhood. ADITO's blog has already covered the impacts of landscape chemicals on our environment so I’m preaching to the choir here. There are instances in which trained conservation professionals use herbicides in a very targeted manner but for the most part, as a home gardener, just say no.
Make Dinner
Lots of weeds are edible and delicious. My personal favorites are chickweed and lamb’s quarters. Check out the books listed below to learn to identify edible plants in your neighborhood. Always remember the first rule of foraging though: don’t eat it unless you are 100% sure of what it is.
Chop it Like It’s Hot
Many of these early succession/weed plants are very good at thriving in poor soils by sending down deep taproots to mine the soil for nutrients that they store in their leaves. So why not keep these nutrients cycling through the soil? Unless a weed is poisonous or otherwise super-nasty, I tend to lay them on top of the soil to decompose. I do this with most plant trimmings as well. This method of weed management is called “chop and drop”. You can use a hand sickle to chop down a whole armful in two seconds and just leave it to decompose and add nitrogen back into the soil.
Here is a little more detail on a few common weeds:
Dandelion
It’s amazing how much time people spend pulling up dandelions. There is nothing wrong with them other than their ability to reproduce. Wendell Berry put it well: “The world is in fact full of free things that are delightful. Flowers. The world is also full of people who would rather pay for something to kill the dandelions than to appreciate the dandelions. Well, I’m a dandelion man myself.” You can make wine from dandelions, eat the leaves, and roast the roots. Or pull them out and leave them to decompose in your garden.
Himalayan Blackberry
If you want a lesson in hubris, look no further than the Himalayan blackberry. Developed and marketed by Luther Burbank of California, who later promoted creepy eugenic strategies, this vigorous plant is now a leading cause of frustration to land stewards across western Washington. I can’t explain it, but when I was pregnant, the sight of blackberry along I-5 made me nauseous. I suggest eating as many berries as possible or making jam before cutting the canes down and digging the roots out. These are noxious weeds and need to go in the garbage or to the dump, not in your yard waste bin. You will never eradicate them but if you keep this up for a number of growing seasons, you can keep them in check. Remember to plant something else, preferably a tree, as soon as possible.
Bittersweet Nightshade
This makes cute flowers and poisonous berries. Learn to recognize this plant and teach kids not to eat the berries. I see it in alleys. These go in the trash too.
Herb Robert
AKA “stinky bob”, this plant grows in shade and has a distinctive smell. I don’t view it as particularly problematic but you can pull it out easily if it bothers you.
Morning Glory (aka Field Bindweed)
After seven years of working with morning glory that covers my garden if I leave for a week, I’ve come to see the plant as more of a spiritual problem than horticultural. I don’t know of any way to eradicate it or even keep it at bay. My approach is to constantly pull it out every time I am in my yard and repeat equanimity phrases such as “may I learn to see the arising and passing of all nature with equanimity and balance” over and over again to realize my own powerlessness.
Chickweed
This is delicious as a garnish or pesto. It grows mostly in the spring. I see it in lawns.
Butterfly Bush
This is classified by the state as a noxious weed because it can cause problems near streams and crowd out native plants. I don’t personally find it appealing but I don’t think the risks in an urban area are that great so if you love it, I say keep it.
Tending land takes care and can be as frustrating as it is joyous. There are no right answers to the mess we are in but the best thing you can do is start somewhere and try. Sit in your yard without touching anything and observe with all your senses.
Learn what you can, listen to your heart, and do your best.
Get to know Anna!
Anna Markee is the owner of Markee Ecological Garden Design, an environmentally-focused landscape design, build, and stewardship firm located in Tacoma, WA. The company provides edible and ecological landscaping services. Every garden they create contributes to restoring soil health, growing food, supporting pollinator habitat, and restoring the water cycle. Anna previously spent 20 years working in public policy on issues ranging from affordable housing to land conservation. She lives with her wife and two young children who have beaten her to all the ripe raspberries this summer.
Sources + Additional Reading:
Architects of Abundance: Indigenous Regenerative Food and Land Management Systems and the Excavation of Hidden History
Black Forager
Braiding Sweetgrass, Robin Wall Kimmerer
Edible Plants of the Pacific Northwest, Natalie Hammerquist
How the Himalayan Blackberry Took Over the Pacific Northwest
Indigenous tribes engineered British Columbia’s modern hazelnut forests more than 7000 years ago
Native, Adaptive, and Invasive Plants A Conversation | February 22, 2025
Pacific Northwest's ‘forest gardens’ were deliberately planted by Indigenous people
Plants as Teachers, Messengers and Climate Partners with Michael Yadrick | January 28, 2026
The Lost Forest Gardens of Europe
The Serviceberry, Robin Wall Kimmerer
Urban Foraging Find, Gather, and Cook 50 Wild Plants, by Lisa Rose
Video from Park Rose Permaculture on Chop and Drop
Washington State Noxious Weed Board Plant Identification
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