Our grandparents knew how to use an enormous variety of plants for health and wellbeing and it’s time to get back to basics when it comes to looking after our family.

Our gardens contain many plants with may seem run-of-the-mill, even what we call weeds, but these plants may also contain nutritional, medicinal and culinary benefits to help keep you and your family healthy.

Herbal medicine is safe, effective and free if you have the tools to identify the plants growing in your backyard.

The herb cleavers can be easily dismissed in your back garden as the scraggly bright-green weed with tiny hooked bristles that sticks to your clothing – or your pets – as you brush past it.

It loves to creep along the ground and race up fence-lines and can usually be found tangled up in patches of tall kikuyu grass where it reaches heights of over three feet.

Over the years it has had plenty of strange names such as biddy-bid, sticky willy, mutton chops and robin-run-in-the-grass.

Cleavers can be used to cleanse the lymphatic system by draining excess fluid and eliminating wastes and toxins from the body through its diuretic action.

As a member of the Rubiaceae family, and distant cousin to the coffee-tree, Coffea Arabica, the seeds of the cleavers plant can be used as a substitutes for coffee although you will need a large harvest. The seeds can be dried and slightly roasted to bring out the coffee flavour.

You can also boost your family’s immune system with cleavers by simply picking a handful of fresh stems and leaves and packing them into a glass jar, filling it up with  water – make sure you put the lid on – and keeping it overnight in the fridge.

Strain the infusion, keeping the liquid, and put the raw cleavers into your compost to make sure you get the most out of the minerals in the plant.

This makes a perfect spring tonic to drink in the morning. It tastes refreshing and the whole family can benefit from a little cleaver infusion with their breakfast.