Greensleeves

Saturday was the day I had been waiting for – the day to be part of an organized garlic mustard pull.

Garlic mustard, as you’ll recall, is the invasive plant that is choking our native wood-lands, turning forest floors into deserts of nothing but garlic mustard. It’s awful, and it’s everywhere.

I was excited to be part of the effort organized by Partners in Horticulture because there is strength in numbers and because of the possibility of actually making a dent in the problem.

My husband and I decided to help out at Schuetzen Park in Davenport.

I’ll say one thing : There’s nary a level spot in the whole place. That made the work hard on my feet and knees.

And there was no end of garlic mustard to be had. At first it wasn’t too bad – just a good amount that I could pull and stuff into my bag.

But toward noon, I happened upon a hillside that was a virtual carpet of garlic mustard. Pulling it was like pulling the blades of grass from a lawn.

As Beth Carvey Stewart of the Black Hawk State Historic Site in Rock Island says, “You don’t want to look up when you’re pulling garlic mustard. Just look in front of you.”

Her point is that if you look at the big picture, you can get pretty discouraged. (Which is true of many things having to do with the environment, I’ve found.)

I felt good about each plant I pulled. Each plant in my bag would be one less burst of seeds for the future.

I enjoyed my surroundings, listening to the birds singing and the chorus of frogs trilling in the newly installed deer pond. I also took joy in the occasional wildflower, mostly May apples, growing amidst the garlic mustard.

I wish there had been a bigger turnout. All told, there were about 10 people at Schuetzen.

If you’re interested, there still are several weeks to pull before the plants go to seed. I plan to return next weekend. (I have to give my joints a little time to recover.)

If you’d like to help, call Brian Ritter at (563) 323-5196. He can set you up with collection bags and direct you where you’re needed most.

This entry was posted on Monday, April 27th, 2009 at 9:19 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.