is that a water bottle or a book bag the child is carrying? and yeah, those things are scary in the hands of the prepubescent! (heck they're scary in the hands of the fully mature!). i knew it was a weed when i saw it. you should cook it all up, and donate it to the local shelter, lol. and why not compost it? if it's dead, and hasn't gone to seed yet, it should make perfectly fine compost. just a thought
Someplace I read that you can't even leave the plants on the ground after you pull them or they will seed and that they also can make the very soil inhospitable to other plants. This is more the weed from hell than the Tansy that took over much of our backyard. Good luck getting rid of it. On the up side it might give you inspiration for a science fiction novel: The Plant That Ate Pittsburgh.
Speaking as an ecologist/botanist:
Liz is correct. If seed pods have begun to form, even pulling the plant out of the ground will not stop their continued development. What we used to do - back when I lived in Illinois and garlic mustard was a MAJOR problem in woodland areas - was pull the stuff up and put it in black plastic garbage bags to solarize for about a week before we composted it. (the heat inside a black garbage bag left in the sun will kill many things. When I had a little carpet beetle issue last fall, that's what I tried, and I found that the temperature inside them could get up to 150* within about an hour).
I will say: that's a hella lot of garlic mustard. It scares me.
I'm trying to remember if there was anything else we did to counter the garlic mustard - but I think pulling was about the only solution. I suppose if you had a brush hog you could mow it down and collect it. (I vaguely remember someone who was licensed to herbicide going through with Garlon at the same time, but IIRC, they were painting it on the stumps of the Japanese honeysuckle we were cutting out of the area).
That said, I'd probably trade my fire ants for your garlic mustard. At least the plant doesn't sting, or eat baby birds, or build nests in electrical junction boxes.
(If the Child becomes reluctant, you could try bribes: when I was a child, my mom used to pay me a penny for every Japanese beetle I'd pick off her garden plants, and also a penny for every cabbage moth caterpillar I found and squashed, and for every potato beetle [which was a pity because potato beetles are kind of fun to play with.])
Sure they come in peace, because they know they will prevail! Hilary Valentine's husband told me once time he always wanted to plant a garden of invasive plants, then step back to see who would win. Funny in a dark sort of way.
Do you really think there's a balance in nature? From what I've observed, nature is as much of an intensity addict as I am.
May the force be with you. Down with the garlic mustard!! You are smarter than it is, and I'm sure you'll triumph.
Ack! My first thought when I saw the picture was, "Kill it! Kill it!"
I'm fighting the good fight in my own yard. Two years ago I let it grow, as I was still uncertain what was weeds and what was perennials. Last year I learned better and pulled it on sight. And pulled. And pulled. And I've only got the typical half-acre suburban lot.
I've lived in this neck of the woods all my life and I can't say I remember ever seeing so much garlic mustard. Invasive indeed. . .
Be glad it isn't Japanese Knotweed. Heidelberg University had a few plants in their Botanical Garden. These then spread to every single bit of open ground they could find. While the gardens were kept clean by the biology department staff, students and gardeners, outside they declared it someone else's problem...
Evil stuff, garlic mustard. Almost as bad as morning glory. Good luck!
Could be worse. Could be kudzu.
A family member comments in an email: "Garlic and mustard are two of my favorite things to eat. I take it that the two of them together are not so desirable."
Right on, Bro. When you come for a visit to Bear's Retreat in June, be ready to do battle with the alien species. A second sling blade is waiting for you.
I just viewed the blog today having thought I conquered the evil weed last evening with my trusty electric weed-buffeting device. When buffeted, the monstrous growth does give off a certain garlic scent now that I think of it.
Commenting by HaloScan
