Re: Amer. Gardener article/Wild Greens

I sure wish deer would eat garlic mustard instead of spreading it,
but I'm sure the garlic flavor turns them off....they'd much rather
munch your list of plants.

I can deal with the odd plant that shows up in my beds as they are
easily seen and pulled, but trying to clear the woods is a spring
chore I loathe as it comes when I have so much else that needs doing.
 I'm getting on top of a couple areas but some are so wild I just
can't hit all the plants no matter how many hours I keep after it;
some always hide somewhere and set seed and keep the cycle going.  Am
determined to banish this pest from within the deer fence; what's
outside of it just has to be left as there's no way I can keep all
the property clear of this stuff.

You are much kinder in print to deer than I am:-)  I used to think
they were beautiful animals and now I consider them hoofed vermin and
can't think of much nice to say about them. 

Marge Talt, zone 7 Maryland
mtalt@hort.net
Editor:  Gardening in Shade
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----------
> From: Aplfgcnys@aol.com
> 
> You know, Marge, that makes more sense than anything else.  I do
pull them 
> carefully each spring - a real crusade to get rid of them - but one
place where 
> they come back in real masses year after year is a bank behind my
vegetable 
> garden fence.  There is a fairly narrow passageway between the
fence and the 
> bank, and deer do go through there  regularly.  Why don't deer eat
garlic mustard 
> instead of my roses, daylilies, hostas and azaleas?  They willl
probably be 
> reduced to doing that before long since I have had to give up on
all of those 
> things because of them.
> 
> My other mistake could be putting bushels of the weeds in the
compost heap.  
> I try to get them before they bloom, but as you observed they can
set blooms 
> on very small plants, so I obviously can't catch them all.  That's
probably the 
> source of those that come up in my flower beds where I use compost
for mulch 
> and soil amendment.  I try to give the compost two good years
before I use it, 
> but since the piles are in a shaded place they may not heat up as
much as 
> they should.  We are on a pretty steep lot, and on one side there
is a boulder 
> with about a 15 foot drop.  I dump the stuff to be composted on
alternate sides 
> on alternate years - by the end of the season, the pile will almost
reach the 
> top of the boulder, but by spring it will have diminished a lot.  I
try to let 
> each pile sit for a full year before I use it, but that could be
the source 
> of the plagued weeds in beds.  Oh well.  Like the deer, I guess
they will 
> always be with us.  Can't fence this lot from either deer or garlic
mustard.
> Auralie

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