Monday, May 19, 2014

Bags and Bags of Garlic Mustard oh MY!!!

On Wednesday, May 7th our class joined three ATC staff and volunteer members to pull Garlic Mustard.  We had learned all about Garlic Mustard, how it is an invasive plant that actually has a chemical it discharges into the soil that hurts native plants.   We started by carrying the tools we needed down to the path.  Then we learned how to safely identify garlic mustard, how to pull it so that we got the whole plant.  It was EVERYWHERE!!!!



We spent 3 hours pulling the plant.  At the beginning we had put decided on a goal of 50 pounds.  We were planning on registered our amount with the National Garlic Mustard Removal challenge. 

Boy were we shocked to learn the next day that after our bags were weighed we had pulled a total of 287 pounds of Garlic Mustard.  WOW.... what a successful day. 
We also learned how to remove Multi- Flora Rose, which is also an invasive.  We used this really cool shrub puller to remove it by its root.  We would then hang it upside down over another plant so that it will die then it can safely decompose in the woods without spreading. 


That night Mrs. Garcia made us pesto with Garlic mustard and we all tried it.  It was pretty good. 
During the day we learned about how long it takes for certain things to decompose in the woods.  Did you know it can take up to 3 years for a banana peal to decompose??  That is why if you carry it in you should always carry it out. 
A game to match how long it takes for an item to decompose.

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