Prepping garden beds in early spring always means weeding, especially since I don't use raised beds. I try to do smart organic weeding with bee's and my own needs in mind. Luckily the majority of the weeds that I battle are also edible. Lambsquarters, garlic mustard, nettle, creeping charlie, dandelion, and violets are my favorites, and I will either harvest them early or allow them to grow to eat later. Weeding is also a job that small children love taking part in, and when you direct them to a space with only edible weeds present then they can also taste their hard work.
Dandelions and Nettle are weeds that are best used early in spring while their leaves are tender, and before stinging nettle is very stingy. The base of a dandelion where the leaves and roots meet is tender like an artichoke heart at this time too. Dandelion root is also commonly used medicinally in teas and supplements. I always leave some dandelions to flower for bees, and to enjoy myself too!
I never pull violets. Their leaves are healing is salves, and violet flowers are full of vitamin C. I also love their flavor and make jelly from the flowers every spring. (Pro tip: I plucked too many violet flowers one year, which caused my violets to not flower at all the following year. When foraging anything it's recommended to only harvest 1/4 of what you find, but I think half of violets is perfectly reasonable. Just not all!)
Lambsquarters and garlic mustard are both very nutritious (and GM is very invasive, so eat up!) There are many recipes out there that are worth trying that involve LQ and GM, and they are also a pretty trendy ingredient.
Creeping charlie is one that I have a love/hate relationship with every year. It's a relative to mint, and you can steep it as tea similarly to any mint tea. Creeping charlie spreads easily and rapidly, and I pull them up every time i visit my garden beds. And yet there are still plenty around! Bees love the purple stalked flowers that come in late spring. So that's a win!
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