Re: poke/now garlic mustard

Well, Pam, if it hasn't reached you yet, count your lucky stars. 
Talk about a weed!  I HATE  garlic mustard.  Spend my life in spring
when I should be doing other stuff pulling it by the cartload.  It is
one of those plants whose stems easily break off at ground line,
leaving a nice fat root that will sprout again.  It sets a zillion
seeds with a seedbank life of at least 5 years in the soil.  It will
germinate no matter what once it's had a cold period - so could be it
would not get enough of one where you are - pray it does not.

It is marching through the east like Sherman; consuming woodland and
shading out all native nice guy seedlings.  It's even heading west
and hitting Illinois and adjacent states...

This was brought over by our forefathers as a potherb. It is
incredibly high in vitamins A and C and since it is green very early,
they used it.  I has no real natural predators at this point although
studies are underway regarding biocontrols, but considering the very
long time it takes to prove those, doubt I'll see them in my
lifetime.

I used to have a list of most hated weeds, but all have been
superseded by garlic mustard.  It wins the prize hands down.

Marge Talt, zone 7 Maryland
mtalt@hort.net
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----------
> From: Pamela J. Evans <gardenqueen@gbronline.com>
> 
> Kitty - thanks for the info - cool season probably explains why
I've
> never seen the stuff. Although my henbit looks like small lavender
now,
> but it prefers the unamended clay in the yard as opposed to the
mostly
> amended beds. I guess Howard Garrett and I are the only people who
like
> henbit. It doesn't even wreck havoc in the herb bed, because it
sops up
> the excess moisture this time of year which would otherwise do in
my
> lavenders. And the rosemary and artemisia don't notice it at all.
So I
> let it go. It's pretty and useful and it's deader than a door nail
> halfway through March. That garlic mustard must be bad in cooler
> climates though, Marge seems to be unenamored of it too.

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