GLRC's Julie Grant writes:

Your barbeque grill isn't the only place to find food in your backyard. There are lots of plants out there to eat. But most of us call them weeds.

She contiues:

This time of year, Peter Gail also recommends sautiing the buds or petals from orange and yellow daylilies. He's also a big fan of dandelions. He suggests looking for the young, tender leaves because they're less bitter. Gail says he believes dandelions were brought to America by Italian immigrants. They're used in lots of Italian recipes:

"80 percent of the things we call weeds were vegetables brought here by immigrants. That's one of the reasons most of the things we call weeds in our backyards aren't indigenous plants. They aren't plants that were from America. They're plants that are from Europe and Asia and from South America."

Read or listen to FEASTING ON BACKYARD WEEDS

Check out Virtual Italia for more recipes and You Grow Girl!, whose

"main objective has always been a commitment to producing a site that promotes exploration, excitement and a d.i.y approach to growing plants without the restrictions of traditional ideas about gardening."

Browse through "edible weeds" books at RawFoods.com with titles including "The Edible Flower Garden" and "Stalking the Wild Asparagus".