I meant to say the Weed forum. Sorry.

I believe that they are biennial, so TRY, TRY, TRY to prevent them flowering and going to seed. We now have them in a small city park opposite our house. I pulled off all the flowers last year, before they formed seedheads, hoping that does some good, at least. It is something I will have to do every year, though.

I deal with them in one section of the yard every year. I have never let them seed but pull them up whenever I am over there. Still they come back every year, so maybe they come back too from any fragment of root left behind, as so many other weeds do.

Get your revenge. Make it into pesto.

It'll be a life's work, but I'm digging them up, taproot and all. You've got to get the whole root system. I seem to have it only in one of the gardens so I temporarily lift the perennials to be able to dig easily. I've never seen GM in flower, so I must be getting them at their first year rosette stage. With the amount of deep digging I did last year, I expect (hope springs eternal) to see very few of them this season.

Continuously mowing or weed-wacking Garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata) will eventually exhaust the plant. You can also smother using cardboard and organic layers, especially if you'd like to make a new garden bed at the same time. Burning is a successful control, although I don't know how many people are able to do burns like that on their property.

Also, although I am an organic gardener in every other respect, there are rare cases where pesticides are warranted (IMO and of course used according to instructions). I use herbicides judiciously to control some of the worst non-native invasives such as Garlic mustard, Buckthorn, Oriental Bittersweet, etc. Round-up can be used on Garlic mustard.

Here's a good article by the Illinois Nature Preserves Commission.

Here is a link that might be useful: Garlic Mustard (Alliaria petiolata)

Here's a good article regarding the plant and control. If you choose to just cut them back to ground level, pay particular attention to the details regarding the best time to do so. It's all the difference between coming back and not coming back :)

Best luck,

Vera

Here is a link that might be useful: Garlic Mustard

I'm having the same problem. In 20 years I never saw this plant then suddenly it showed up two years ago all over the place. Where the heck did it come from? I've been pulling it out but it's still popping up. I'm trying something new. I'm still pulling what's showing up in the beds and burying what's growing on the outskirts of my property with the winter'd over perennial debris. Hopefully it will choke it out.

I once saw an episode of The Garden Journal on HGTV and the guest she had on specialized in invasive species. According to him he said that no plant can survive constant cultivation. You have to be ruthless. Hoe, bury, dig, and pull - anything to get rid of the thugs.

I agree with dirt driver! Get even with garlic mustard,
stinging nettles, chickweed, dandelions by eating them!!
Get at it early when they are tender. Mixed greens cooked.
Stinging nettles make a great sub for spinach in lasagna, etc. (pull with gloves, wash wearing rubber gloves, as soon
as they cook they lose their sting--but not their Vitamins)
Chickweed and dandelions young can be eaten in salads, or
cooked later. These weeds taste good and they make you
feel virtuous also, if you dig the roots out. Ah, spring!

Chris