This is how you get rid of the weeds

Plant profile

The name "Melde" goes back to the floured appearance of the leaves. The plant can be easily recognized on the basis of this characteristic.

• Scientific name: Atriplex patula
• Other names: Spreizende Melde, Spanish salad, whey herb, Maiflitsch
• Genus: Report
• Plant family: Goosefoot family

• Height: 30 to 100 centimeters.
• Growth: Sparse
• Leaves: Gray-green colored, alternate, diamond-shaped or triangular, mealy hairy.
• Flower: Radiant, only 2 mm in size. The small, almost sessile flowers form spherical partial inflorescences that are arranged in panicles.
• Flowering period: June - October
• Fruit: tiny nuts.
• Location: Prefers nitrogen-containing soils such as roadsides, fallow land, fields, green areas.

Special feature: a plant can produce over 3,000 seeds that remain viable in the soil for several years. The report forms two different types of seeds. The brown colored seeds are ready to germinate immediately, while the black seeds do not open until after two years at the earliest.

Fight reporting

You don't have to attack the report with the chemical club. Large plants and their roots can easily be pulled out of the ground. You can use freshly sprouted logs when chopping practically remove it on the side.

Rediscovered weeds

Melde is now being cultivated in the vegetable garden again. New cultivars with interesting colored leaves set visual accents here. Like common weeds, they can be used in a variety of ways in the kitchen.

If you remove Melde, you should therefore not carelessly put the plant on the compost. Leaves, shoots, flower buds, flowers and seeds are edible and far too good to simply be thrown away.

You can add young leaves with their nutty aroma, cut into fine strips, raw as salads, herb butter or herb quark. They can be processed like spinach. The Spanish salad tastes delicious in green smoothies.

Melde used to be used not only in the kitchen, but also as medicinal plants. The active ingredients contained have a diuretic effect. In folk medicine, lung diseases were treated with Maiflitsch.