Garlic Mustard- Part 2

 
Here's more about the obnoxious garlic mustard, Alliaria petiolata. This is what it looks like in flower. Each flower has four small white petals, with the flowers clustered at the top of the stem.



The leaves vary as the plant grows. It's a biennial, so there is a rosette of leaves that comes up in the fall. These are almost round.



But as the stem grows, the second year, the leaves become more heart shaped.


And the leaves closest to the flowers are triangular and pointed. The stems are smooth at the top and softly hairy at the base. If you aren't sure of the ID, just break or crush a couple of leaves and you'll get the definite scent of garlic. The seed pods are also distinctive, and I'll show you those when the start to mature.



As it turned out, I didn't pull any more of it today because we got a LOT of rain last night and it was pretty muddy. However, I did pick a bunch of leaves and make Garlic Mustard Pesto. It's good. It would be better if I liked olive oil better. However, this is what I did with it, and this was pretty darn yummy. I made a grilled cheese and pesto sandwich for lunch. Too bad it would be rather impossible to eat enough to keep it under control.



In other news: Well, um... I stayed up half the night finishing the jigsaw puzzle. It's called "The Fan Club." It was surprisingly difficult, but I couldn't stop. Four missing pieces just to add to the challenge. So I wasn't awake early.



Then I made the pesto, did a tiny bit of other yard work, and then uncovered the trailer. Contemplating how to deal with the leaking window, or wondering if it was an unusual event because of the monsoon I drove through on the way home. Anyway, everything has to come out of the inside. I knew that last summer. Remember, except for the internal bracing, everything else was just tacked together. Still, it was depressing to start taking it all apart again. Did some cleaning inside.

See Garlic Mustard- Part 1