The salad is at your feet

Jane Kramer writes about her foraging adventures in Europe in The New Yorker article The Food at Our Feet.  On the New York Times blog City Room, they have a series in Urban Foraging by Ava Chin, writing about purslane picked from the sidewalks of the city, and much more.

Species: purslane, Portulaca oleracea, Portulaceae

Climate change scenarios in New York State, what about the weeds?

From the 2011 report on the potential long-term effects of climate change in New York State (pdf here, very interesting read):

"Carbon dioxide fertilization tends to preferentially increase the growth rate of fast-growing species, which are often weeds and other invasives."

"Increased weed and pest pressure associated with longer growing seasons and warmer winters will be an increasingly important challenge."