By Susannah Wood and Shelley Harms

Before bagging up all that pesky mustard, consider turning some of it into a culinary delight.

It’s that time of year when many invasive species get a jump on native plants by sprouting first. Goutweed and garlic mustard are the big two to watch for in the month of May. Before you haul bags of them to the transfer station, consider bringing some into your kitchen. Both plants make excellent ingredients in summer recipes. Goutweed, an attractive ground cover, has escaped from gardens and can regenerate from seeds and root fragments. The leaves of goutweed are a bluish-green and are divided into three groups of three sparsely toothed leaflets. In mid-summer, the plant produces white flowers in flattened umbels that resemble Queen Anne’s lace. Goutweed rapidly becomes a dense stand, shading out native wildflowers and ferns. Digging up goutweed is laborious and leaves behind small pieces of the root which easily grow into new plants, but a small colony can be managed by frequent weeding. Round-up, an herbicide which breaks down fairly quickly, can be used to control larger areas in early spring and, if used over several seasons, can keep goutweed in check. Before goutweed flowers, the leaves can be picked and cooked like spinach. Garlic mustard, the so-called “biennial bully”, is becoming more prevalent in Norfolk, especially along the roadsides where many invasive species flourish in the disturbed soils. Garlic mustard produces a basal rosette of leaves the first year and then sends up a stalk of two to three feet the second year. The leaves are heart-shaped with coarse teeth and there are clusters of small white flowers at the top of the plant. Garlic mustard quickly invades and replaces native plant diversity and is not beneficial to local wildlife. It also shades out wildflowers like spring beauty, bloodroot and toothwort. The best way to control garlic mustard is to pull it up before its seeds spread in early June. Thankfully, this plant easily comes loose from the soil with a quick tug at its base. When pulling up an invasive species, always tamp down the loose soil to make it less hospitable for reinvasion. The best way to prevent another infestation on your property is to replant the area with native species or non-invasive ones. Day lilies do an excellent job beating out garlic mustard. Garlic mustard can be used in a variety of recipes, such as Garlic Mustard Lentil Soup, Fruited Bitter Greens, Rabbit Pate with Garlic Mustard and Spring Pesto. A cookbook with these recipes can be ordered from: http://www.naturecenter.org/images/Special_Events/EarthDay/MustardOrderForm.pdf. Any weeds you can’t manage to eat, especially those with seeds, should be securely fastened in a thick, black garbage bag and disposed of quickly. Throwing uprooted goutweed and garlic mustard into the woods or onto your compost pile will result in the seeds taking on new life and quickly covering the forest floor. The Norfolk Land Trust is focusing on invasive species this year. Join them for a short tutorial and invasive species work party on Sunday, June 8, at 9 a.m. at Town Hall. For further information on invasive species, go to www.nps.gov/plants/alien.