Sweet Vitriol

Invasion of the Garlic Mustard

by Ether

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.

Posted by Ether on April 18th, 2009 filed in Nature, Wild Edibles1 Comment »