Early Weeds

Cutting the stems also works, but since the slender, white, 'S' curved taproot has axillary buds along the upper part of the 'S', you run the danger of these forming new plants. If you use a brush hog or trimmer to cut the swathes of them, you also run the danger of cutting any wanted native plants growing under them.

Pulling the plants is laborious, but not really difficult if the ground is loose and moist. The trick is to grasp them as low down to the ground as possible so that you also remove at least the top part of the tap root.

If you pull them, try to get them while the seed siliques are just forming and green. Pile them in your compost heap or in piles so that the flower heads are in the center of the heap or otherwise, the flowers will continue to open and the seed siliques will continue to mature. If you wait until the siliques start to turn brown and ripen, you have to be very careful or you'll just spread seed over a wider range. The object in piling or composting is to make sure that the flower heads are covered with other organic material so they will rot before the seed matures.

This is one plant you really need to look out for; as of 1990, it has spread throughout twenty-nine states, primarily in the midwest and northeast US. If you see it, pull it immediately!

Boxelder

Lurking in front of the first photograph of garlic mustard are several examples of another bane of my existence. Acer negundo, the boxelder, one of the maple family of trees, slathers the world with seedlings that must be pulled annually or they would cover my corner of the earth. I often think, as I pull these guys, that if I went away for 10 years, upon my return, I'd find that our gravel parking area and drive were a forest of boxelder...and some people actually pay money for this tree!

Luckily, they are easily pulled when small. They also resemble (somewhat) poison ivy (Rhus radicans). I look carefully, to make sure before I grab bare handed, but if you put the two side-by-side, the differences are quite plain. Boxelder stems are leaf green, whereas poison ivy stems are brown and sometimes hairy in parts; boxelder leaves are

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