How can you tel if a weed is ok to eat?

[Kindred]

My garden is over run with weeds. I have read about some weeds that can be eaten. Is there any hard and fast rule about how to identiy weeds that are safe to eat?

If I could id eat every weed in my garden also random plant going to and from work. Sounds strange but in my mind whats the difference between a home grown carrot and a home grown edible weed???

[MysticTree]

You need to be careful. Lots of plants are poisonous.

Get yourself a book on wild food plants/foraging. You don't say which part of the world you live in but the book I recommend generally is "Food for Free" by Richard Mabey. I live in the UK so there may be a more specific book for you. You need to know which bits of the plant you can eat. You can't always eat everything - like rhubarb, the stalk is ok but the leaf is not.

The main difference between a home grown carrot and most home grown weed will be the sweetness. Most weeds that are eaten are leaf and carrot is root.

[streetsurfer]

Suggest you also read Wicked Plants, Amy Stewart.

[Arky]

Also, you can crush a plant between your thumb and finger and firmly rub it on the underside of your wrist. This isn't a foolproof method, I want to be absolutely clear about that, but it is a good way of narrowing down what may be toxic or not. If the skin on your wrist develops a rash within a few minutes then there's a good chance the plant is toxic. This is an old trick used by survivalists, but, as I said, it's only an initial test, not the be-all and end-all of determining any plants relative level of safety or toxicity, so you've been warned!