CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, OHIO – After attending the Shaker Lakes Nature Center’s Pestival this year and enjoying the foods cooked up by area chefs using the invasive garlic mustard weed, it got me thinking.

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How many weeds in my yard are edible? And, if I have weeds, do I have enough to make a dinner salad?

The eight or so chefs who contributed their talents to the Pestival used the fresh garlic mustard greens sparingly, more as a spice than the main ingredient. But, that could have been because the plants were late in popping up in the wooded areas of the Shaker Lakes due to our cold winter and late spring.

Usually thought of as a pest that overruns native plants, the Pestival’s motto is “If you can’t beat it, eat it.”

That could work. If it got categorized as a “super” food, perhaps park visitors would pluck it out by the basket and help to eradicate it. But, that could take some time since I’m told its unsprouted seeds can remain in the soil for up to five years, and each plant can produce thousands of seeds.

Listed as a noxious or restricted plant in Alabama, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Oregon, Vermont, West Virginia and Washington, the hapless garlic mustard, Alliaria petiolata was introduced to the new world as a culinary herb in the 1860s when Europeans also planted themselves here.

My research tells me it could be one of the oldest European cooking spices with evidence found from archeological remains in the Baltic dating back to 6100-5750 BCE.

The leafy plants are often found growing along the margins of wild forests, or even cultivated rows of bushes or hedges as the British call them, giving rise to another name for garlic mustard, which is Jack-by-the-hedge. Other names include garlic root, hedge garlic, sauce-alone, Jack-in-the-bush, penny hedge and poor man’s mustard.

In the first year of its two-year growth cycle, the plant forms clumps of round shaped, slightly wrinkled garlicky smelling and tasting leaves. The next year the plant flowers in spring with cross-shaped white flowers in dense clusters. As the flowering stems bloom they elongate into a spike-like shape. When blooming is complete, plants produce upright fruits that release seeds in mid-summer.

Its taste is similar to what we know as garlic, but more delicate. It’s not really a mustard to my taste buds. Tangy, but not bitter, it would be an herb worth keeping, if it wasn’t such a land-grabbing pest.

I’m told that North America lacks the insects and fungi that feed on the garlic mustard in its native habitat in Europe. This adds to the plant’s ability to increase seed productivity here and allows it to out-compete native plants. In some places it has become the dominant species in woodland and flood plain environments, where eradication is difficult.

What’s more it seems the garlic mustard suppresses beneficial fungi that most plants, including native forest trees, require for optimum growth, giving it a novel weapon to use in taking over our country. Another one of our pests, deer, rarely dine on the plant. In fact, deer may help to thicken its domination plot by consuming competing native plants. Trampling by deer browsing on other plants may actually encourage the spread of the invasive garlic mustard.

To fight back you can pull out the plants in early spring when they first appear. Grasp the plant at the base of the rosette of leaves, next to the soil, and pull upward. Discard the plant and its root system. Tamp down the soil after pulling up the weed to limit disturbances that may disrupt native plant life.

Another approach is to cut the flowering garlic mustard weed plants at soil the level before seed production begins. Promptly dispose of the plants. Watch closely to make sure the plant does not resprout from its root system.

You can use an herbicide that contains 1 to 2 percent glyphosate in the early spring or late fall, but if you drip it on other plants, the herbicide will destroy them as well.

A better use is to wash the leaves of the plant and use as flavoring in salads, sauces, soups, pasta, and pesto. Several of the Pestival chefs used it as a complement to mushroom dishes.

In days of yore garlic mustard was used medicinally as a disinfectant or diuretic and it was used to heal wounds.

But, make sure you follow these weed harvesting guidelines.

Only harvest weeds you can positively identify and know to be edible. I’m told The Complete Guide to Edible Wild Plants, by the U.S. Department of the Army is a good reference, if you aren’t sure.

Avoid picking ones close to roadways to avoid ones that have absorbed exhaust fumes and road run off. And, avoid harvesting weeds in areas that may have been contaminated by animal feces.

Do not pick weeds from yards, including yours, that have been treated with pesticides or herbicides.

And, note that many edible plants have non-edible – and sometimes poisonous – parts.

My friend Dave likes to pick wild mushrooms in the spring, a practice that makes me a tad nervous because some poisonous mushrooms can be deadly. In that case, an ounce of prevention is really worth a pound of cure.

To comment or post your events and milestones, contact Rusek at jcooperrusek@gmail.com.

LOOKING GOOD – BCBGMAXAZRIA will host their 25th anniversary fashion show at Sushi Rock in Beachwood 7 p.m. April 23. Hot new spring styles will be showcased as the bar becomes the runway.

Admission is free. There will also be a raffle for door prizes. Pre-show dinner reservations can be made by contacting 216-378-9595 or sushirocohio.com. Sushi Rock is located at 2101 Richmond Road.

MEGA BOOK SALE – Friends don’t let friends pay too much for books. 9:15 a.m. to 8:45 p.m. May 2 at the Lee Road Brach library. All adult books are $1, except mass market paperbacks which are 10 cents each. Children’s and teen’s books are 50 cents each. CD’s, DVD’s and audio books are all $1 each. Contact heightslibrary.org.

PLANT SALE – Visit the Nature Center during Plant Sale Day May 10 and choose plants from the beautiful selection that fills the parking lot. Vendors, refreshments and a special kid’s activity make this a fun family outing.

Featured are a collection of annuals, perennials, herbs, vegetables and hard to find natives. Plants may be purchased individually or in convenient pre-arranged assortments and hanging baskets. The nature center is located at 26000 South Park Road. Contact shakerlakes.org.