Recent rainy weather has made it easy to pull garlic mustard (and almost anything else). I was out this morning for a combination of jogging and garlic mustard removal and noticed that the area between High and Cooke is a mix of good and bad. The area from Canyon past Lenappe to Cooke is pretty much free of garlic mustard. However, there are some pretty bad spots between Canyon and High, especially on the north side of the road.

Evil Garlic Mustard

Last spring, Mike and I learned about wild morel mushrooms, and discovered people scoured the land clean of ‘em! Knowing garlic mustard was edible, we thought if it was promoted as a highly desirable delicacy, like the morels, we might actually eradicate it. I researched and found various recipes online.

Last week, I harvested some from the yard and made pesto for pasta sauce. It was REALLY good!!! It has a mild, nutty flavor. In fact, it was so good, we joked about planting a small square of it in the garden. (I promise, it was just a joke!) Because it would be so easy to grow, and is so good, it may not be a great idea to widely promote it…but I thought I’d share the recipe with everyone here. Now that we have so much spare time (since the garlic mustard fields have been greatly reduced compared to previous years), it may be a reward for pulling the remaining straggling plants each year.

I only used the leaves, as this recipe instructed, but I read in other recipes, that the tap roots may also be used. It was suggested to rinse thoroughly 2-3 times, to wash off any animal urine (that sounded kind of gross, but it would be the case with any garden vegetables, wouldn’t it?). I used a mortar and pestle, but had to resort to a knife to help shred the leaves. I think a food processor may work better. It was very easy and very tasty!! Here’s the recipe:

Garlic Mustard Pesto

I recommend two high-end Italian cheeses here, but you could easily substitute the domestic varieties. Don’t use the powdery stuff in the green cylinder, though. It’s full of so much cellulose you’d be better off shredding the cardboard it comes in.

From pest to pesto.
2 cloves of garlic
4 cups (packed) fresh garlic mustard leaves, washed
1 teaspoon of coarse sea salt
2 tablespoons of oven-toasted pine nuts
3 tablespoons of grated Pecorino cheese
3 tablespoons of grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese
1 cup of olive oil

Put the garlic, the washed garlic mustard leaves, the salt (which helps to preserve the green of the leaves), and the pine nuts into the mortar.

Slowly mix with the pestle and add the mixed cheeses a little at a time.

When the mixture is smooth and creamy, add olive oil to taste (to the texture you prefer) and stir to incorporate.

To dress your pasta with the pesto, always dilute the pesto with a little of the cooking water from the pasta.

The Winter Aconite are just foliage now, and the impressive though invasive carpets of blue/purple Squill (scilla) are fading, but popping up throughout the ravine area are Virginia Bluebells, Dutchman’s Breeches, Spring Beauties, and the beginning foliage of Trout Lilies and May Apples.

Unfortunately, also coming back to life are the honeysuckle, euonymus, and the garlic mustard.

Please join your friends and neighbors in the coming weeks as we remove and bag garlic mustard and other invasive plants from the ravine and our own yards to make it possible for the native plants to return and thrive.

Walter Reins writes:

I have done much more research into the injection system [for gypsy moth abatement] I told you about, and have discovered more positive data supporting its efficacy. I will be able to offer NON-SPRAY treatments for gypsy moth, emerald ash borer, webworm, birch borer and birch leafminers, jap. beetles, etc, and also iron injections for chlorotic trees like pin oaks. These treatments will be made in a completely closed system; no spraying and no soil injection, which means no chemical in the environment, ever. Some of the chemicals even break down into beneficial nutrients like phosphorus and sulfur after they have taken care of the target pest. I am very excited to be able to offer this to my clients.

 

Walter Reins

614-778-4949

www.reinstreetlandscapes.com

Diana Jung Stacey has done a huge amount of garlic mustard removal. Her documentation follows. At the end she writes that the leaves are less bitter to eat when they’re young. Has anyone made a garlic mustard salad? Diana writes:

I pulled 3 bags of garlic mustard yesterday.  If I leave them by the side of the street, they will be picked up for incineration??  I can put them in our trash can, but I thought it better for them to be incinerated.  One is located by the bridge just east of our driveway, south side of Overbrook.  Two bags are located on the east side of Overbrook, across from the fire hydrant and John and Stacey Durst’s house.  I worked for about 4 hours.

A couple weeks ago, when you saw me, I bagged two bags, about 6 hours.  That day, I spent a lot of time pulling baby honeysuckle, as well as baby garlic mustard, and making sure all the roots came out with the plants (that’s why it took so long).

A few weeks or so before that, I pulled about 1 bag for 1 hour, I cleaned up the garlic mustard growing along the alley behind our house.  That alley is access for some of the Overbrook addresses without driveway access on Overbrook.  So for your record-keeping….this spring, I pulled 6 bags over 11 hours…..I don’t think I’ve reported that to you before, but you may have already added the 2 bags which I left on Overbrook for pickup a few weeks ago.

I pulled all the plants I could see….but it would be really good if someone else has time to walk thru and look for any strays I missed, as it’s difficult to spot the plants now that the flowers are gone.  Here’s a description of where I covered:

Starting at the area southeast of the bridge at North Canyon & Overbrook, I worked on both sides of the street, passing our house (220 Overbrook), all the way down to Cooke Road.  I covered all of the areas which do not look like they are on someone’s property, and I also pulled garlic mustard within 10 feet of the road on private properties.

The last couple years I worked the area from Cooke and Overbrook (across from our old house, 298 Overbrook) down to in front of the Dursts.  I usually try to cover the entire area all the back to the water, but yesterday, the oppressive heat and mosquito attacks caused me to scan for the larger plants from halfway into the woods, rather than hiking all the way in…..also, there was a patch of large garlic mustard near the road in that area, but it had about a 6’ radius of poison ivy around it…..I did not attempt to tackle that in shorts.  I did pull a lot of garlic mustard clustered inside smaller poison ivy patches by crushing the poison ivy with a branch that I could step on to get closer to the mustard.

Looking up the property at our old house, it actually looked pretty good.  I had been clearing garlic mustard there, on the hillside, for probably 5-6 years.  I kind of want to ask the new owners if they would mind if I looked it over for plants….I hate to think there might be a couple that will burst open, spewing out hundreds of new plants!

Well, we’ll keep up the battle.  Maybe next year, I’ll try getting out earlier and pulling some to try a recipe.  It’s suggested that it’s better to eat before it flowers….after flowering, it’s more bitter, I think.

There’s still time to pull garlic mustard. The cooler weather gives us more time. I guarantee you’ll hear songbirds and woodpeckers as you work–Blenheim neighbor Katrin Pullian had her binoculars and even saw a Great Crested Flycatcher. Jim Roberts from Watershed Organic Lawn Care will pick up the piles and bags after the next second Saturday clean up, June 14. 

The Columbus Dispatch reports on Tuesday, May 20, 2008 that there is an insecticide called Tree-age which kills the Emerald Ash Borer beetle when its larvae eat tree tissue treated with the chemical. It costs about $200 to treat a 16-inch diameter tree. Makers of the insecticide say it needs to be applied every year. Dan Herms, an Ohio State entomologist, said “more research needs to be completed on Tree-age before it’s known how much of a weapon it will be. Other insecticides have been effective.”

Neighbor Andy Steinman treated a couple historic ash trees on his Adena Brook property and writes: 

Susan: some folks might want to know that one can treat for the ash borer with a 90% success rate.  However, this is a long-term commitment.  We have several very mature ash trees on our property and in our general vicinity of the ravine… I have chosen two very important ash trees to save.  The others I will have removed carefully so that we do not destroy any other trees.  I highly recommend Dave Alhum of Alhum & Arbor Tree Preservation [876-5622].  I am sure there are others who can treat for the borer but folks should ensure that they are using a qualified company.  Elayna Grody gave Dave a great endorsement when I told her whom I was using.

May 3, 2008 CLEAN UP

Some neighbors don’t mind working in the rain. The gentle rain and sound of the brook was soothing. Our mentors tell us the MOST IMPORTANT HELP TO THE WOODLAND RIGHT NOW is getting rid of the garlic mustard. Leave honeysuckle and litter removal for next month. These 13 people pulled garlic mustard:

Steve Blum-Herminghausen, Mark and Carina Carter, Stacey and Tanner Durst, Ellen Hoover, Nan and Bill Platt, Greg Schneider, Christine, Aaron, and Mimi Svoboda, Susan Michael Barrett.

Mentor Greg Schneider (sits on the Central Ohio Invasive Plants Council) said we have about 1 week left to pull garlic mustard before the seed pods are fully formed. We put garlic mustard in brown plastic bags because the seeds continue to grow after pulling. We are advised: DO NOT PUT GARLIC MUSTARD OUT WITH OUR YARD WASTE FOR CITY PICK UP; INSTEAD, PUT IT IN YOUR GARBAGE BIN. We had one bag of litter.

Jim Roberts hauls and shreds the group’s garlic mustard at a high temperature and recycles the plastic bags.

This invasive plant is blooming in the ravine and your yards right now. If you see it in your yard, please remove it.

Learn about Laurie Anderson’s research on garlic mustard.

Laurie Anderson, Ph.D. “Garlic mustard is known to reduce tree seedling growth by secreting toxins that kill beneficial fungi on the seedling roots,” Anderson says. “[It also] can suppress spring wildflowers through competition, and may reduce the diversity of native understory species. If it becomes an even more aggressive invader under future climate scenarios, it may become even more of a problem for native plants.”

Some neighbors asked about Phlox and Phlox-like plants.
Native Wild Blue Phlox blooms April-June. Garden Phlox blooms July – September.
The key identifier: NATIVE PHLOX HAS 5 PETALS, the invasive phlox has 4 petals. There is a phlox-like purple flower blooming in the ravine, which may be Dame’s Rocket. Here’s a link to tell them apart.