It’s that time of year again- the native woodland plants are already popping up and reminding us that spring is indeed here. Unfortunately, along with our lovely natives such as the lovely Jack in the Pulpits and Violets, invasive species are setting up camp as well. The most vigorous of these is Garlic Mustard. Gayla over at You Grow Girl made a great post last year with a bit of history about the plant.

Right now the Garlic Mustard is in it’s young form as crowns of leaves, but they’re growing fast. I’ve already seen some plants fully mature and blooming! At this young stage it can look a bit like our native Violets and also similar to Creeping Charlie, so do check first before you pull. The distinctive garlicky smell will give it away. With such vigorous growth you want to pull this weed as soon as you spot it- the longer you leave it the deeper its root system establishes and it becomes nearly impossible to cleanly pluck later in the season.

Right after a rain is a great time to pull this up, as the ground will be softer. You want to pull out as much of the root system as possible, and do NOT put the plant into your compost. This is something you want to destroy, not redistribute. Here is some great detail information and more photos of what you’re looking for when you go to battle against this invader.

So… destroy the plant you say, but how? Well, you can burn it or pulverize it, but why not just eat it? It’s a delightful little edible, despite it’s invasiveness and noxious weed classification. It makes a nice cooking green and has that nice green-garlicky flavor. Wonderful in a cooked pesto sauce, beans-and-greens, or cooked with mushrooms. Young leaves picked early in the season can be used in salads, and a horseradish-like preparation can be made from the roots.

More than just flowers are bloomin’ here in the ether-garden this Bloom Day. While checking on the garden and replacing a few of the milk-jug cloches which got blown around during one of our recent storms, I happened across this sweet little one and his (her?) brothers and sisters. They were hiding awfully well, I nearly trampled the lot of them! I was surprised how calm this little guy was, and simply couldn’t resist a brief snorgle of his little white-spotted head. I made sure to explain the ground rules of living in the ether-garden before sending the little one along home.

Of course, there are plenty of flowers blooming too. The ornamental alliums have presented themselves in all their pom-pom glory, and the chives are following suit. The wild violets are out, along with a sneaky little variegated vinca growing up along the side walk. The yellow irises are in bud, as is my sage. I’ve never seen sage blossoms before, so I’m quite anxious for them to open. They’ve been in bud for some time now…

Sweet Vitriol has also bloomed a bit, you may have noticed a new author recently. Luminiferous joins in the fun to share his thoughts and ideas, and to keep the show running when I’m out of town. I see wonderful things in the future from this. A new page will be popping up soon as well, with brief bios and such on both Lumin and myself.

Not only is today bloom day, but for those in the Pittsburgh area and Allegheny County, we are now considered to be safely past the threat of frost. Now, if it goes and frosts again don’t blame me as this isn’t an exact science. I just know that today is the best birthday present I can ever ask for- the day I can safely plant the rest of my garden. Most of it’s in already, but what few seedlings were still waiting for that magic time can finally go outside and stretch out their roots and greet the world. Happy Bloom Day!

We went mushroom hunting today in a park in Pittsburgh. These few weeks are the only time morels will grow on the East Coast. On our walk through the trails, we kept our eyes out for dying elms and tulip poplars. Morels will pop up near those trees inside of a twenty foot radius.

We saw plenty of signs of morel season — apple blossoms, garlic mustard blossoms, and may apples. So, we knew we’d find some good mushrooms if we kept looking. They can really hide, especially under leaves, but once you spot one, you’re likely to find a bunch.

We found three different kinds of morels on this trip, yellows, blacks or greys, and half-frees. The yellows and blacks have the typical morel cap. The half-frees have a cap with parallel ridges, which unlike the other morels is not attached to the shaft fully. It’s half free, hence the name. These morels are also known in the parlance of our obscene times as peckerheads.

We made sure to cut them off with a knife, and not just rip them out of the ground. We want the mycelium to stay healthy in the park so that this patch of morels might be there next year.

Now, how can we be sure that our morels are true morels and not fakes? One important thing to check is to cut them in half and look inside. Morels have a totally hollow interior. If your mushroom has a cottony middle, or has several chambers, it’s a fake. Don’t eat it!

True morels have either a fully attached cap, or a half attached cap. If the cap is mostly free, it’s probably not a morel. There are a few species such as Verpa bohemica and Verpa conica which look like a half-free, but whose caps are completely free. If you find one, it’s a fake. Don’t eat it!

In general, if you’re not sure, don’t eat it! And learn from an expert. Almost every city has a mycological society. They exist to help you find mushrooms safely. Ask them!

Now that we’re home, we’re going to make sure we wash and cook them or dry them before we eat them. It’s probably not a good idea to eat wild mushrooms raw. You never know what might be living in them!

Last night we were treated to a lovely thunder storm, complete with huge flashes of lightning and wall-shaking thunderclaps. We sorely needed the rain as it’s been a bit of a dry April around here. After Saturday’s attempt for morels I figured I’d go out on a foray today in hopes that the rain encouraged the mushrooms to pop their little heads up. Boy was I right, these yellow morels are almost the size of Luminiferous’ hand! Not only did I not have to drive 30 miles out of town this time, but I found a few nice little caches of morels essentially in my backyard. Now I’ve got a little secret too.

We spent the evening cleaning and stringing today’s finds to dry. There were a ton of the big yellows, a decent helping of the blacks (some call them grays at this stage due to the white edging on the caps), and five half-frees. Half-frees are a new variety to me, so named because unlike the other morels their caps aren’t connected to the stems the entire way down but just halfway, the rest creating a hanging skirt. I’m hoping to go back out in a couple days, as I left behind plenty of very young mushrooms to mature in the woods before picking them. I’ll probably sauté those and freeze them, so I can compare how the flavor holds up with the different methods of storage.

This weekend was the Western PA Mushroom Club’s annual Morel Madness Weekend. The weekend consists of two days of forays, slide-shows, and camping. Morels can be quite expensive at the market, largely due to the fact that they do not cultivate well. They have a unique texture, much more al-dente than most mushrooms, and have a very distinct flavor. Many who do not like most fleshy-capped mushrooms such as portabello or traditional button mushrooms enjoy morels, so give ‘em a try.

This year we might have been a bit early for the morels, it was hard to say. Most of us didn’t find a whole lot, and though one guy seemed to know the secret spot in the park where the morels were flourishing he wasn’t sharing his secret with anyone. Oh well. We might go back in a week and see what we can find.The outing wasn’t a complete bust though as we did find some rather tasty Dryad’s Saddle mushrooms, and were privy to the glories of spring in South-Western PA.

Throughout the wood were signs of spring oft missed by us city dwellers. Lovely white and red Trilliums made carpets through the forest, accented by the occasional patch of Jack-in-the-Pulpits. A few of our varieties of Trillium, including most of the reds, are classified as either at-risk or endangered, so it was quite a treat to get to see those. I was glad to see the deer hadn’t eaten them all up yet, as they are prone to doing. We also saw all manner of Violets ranging from white to yellow to purple, wild onions, garlic-mustard, and a few ramps.

Urban gardeners often think of the signs of spring as the crocuses, tulips, and daffodils we have planted into our yards. While I didn’t come home with even a single morel this time around, I did come home with a reminder of what spring looks like in our native forests. Maybe we can put in some trilliums for next year, to bring this reminder a bit closer to home.