Removing unwanted plants that steal moisture and nutrients from desired plants is called weeding, and as necessary as hand weeding is, it's a monotonous activity that's typically relegated to the bottom of my gardening to-do list.

But weeding can sometimes be rewarding, like when an unusual-looking weed causes me to think twice before I yank it.

So when is a weed not a weed? At our place, a weed isn't a weed if it's an edible or drinkable "volunteer," a tasty plant that unexpectedly and spontaneously appears.

Just last week, in fact, I was about to remove a clump of 18-inch-tall plants that had made a home in our herb garden when I noticed they had familiar-looking, daisy-like flowers.

They weren't daisies, though. They were "ground apples." At least that's what ancient Greeks called "chamomile" (Anthemis nobilis), the same herb from which chamomile tea is brewed.

The aroma of ground apples is similar to that of fresh apples and ground-apple flowers have been used for centuries to flavor foods and drinks.

Pretty flowers, tasty tea

The chamomile clump I nearly removed is now in full bloom. Flowers are an inch in diameter and have white petals with dark-yellow centers. As the flowers mature, the petals bend downward and the flower heads take the shape of cones.

The quickest way to prepare chamomile flowers for making tea is to pick them fresh and then dry them in a sunny window for about a week. But if you don't already have flowers to dry, don't worry. There's still plenty of time to sow and harvest home-grown chamomile.

Simply scatter some store-bought seeds across a tilled bed in a sunny spot where the soil drains freely.

After I've harvested and dried our flower heads, I use one teaspoon of dried and pulverized flower heads to prepare each cup of chamomile tea.

Did I mention that weeding can be a relaxing activity for me, too? All I require is a long-handled weeder in one hand and chilly cup of chamomile in the other hand.

This week in the garden

Hand weeding our vegetable beds is instantly gratifying, because it removes weeds from my view without waiting for herbicides to take effect.

I use two tools: I weed between the rows of vegetable beds with a hoe. Then I follow up with a "long-handled weeder."

I've been doing a lot of hand weeding lately in our vegetable beds, and the best time to weed by hand is before weeds bloom and drop seeds, soon after the soil has been soaked with water.

Lou Boulmetis is a certified master gardener who lives in Littlestown, Pa. Call him at 1-800-727-4287.

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