Gardener asks questions after noticing plant sprawling across yard: 'It will take over an entire area if you let it'
When a mystery plant pops up in your garden, it's good to investigate exactly what it is so you can help it flourish or stop it from invading your property.
One Redditor reached out to the r/gardening community for help with their mystery plants. .
Photo Credit: Reddit
The posted photo shows a bright green plant with many heart-shaped leaves. The Redditor wrote: "Can you please help me out with what this is? It's all over my yard, and I thought it might be purple dead nettle but I'm not sure."
Commenters were quick to help with suggestions and warnings. They were in agreement that the plant was garlic mustard and highly invasive. One user said, "It will take over an entire area if you let it."
Garlic mustard, originally from Asia and Europe, is an invasive plant in the United States and can be destructive to other plantlife.
While gardening has many benefits including stress relief and heart-healthy exercise, it's important to know exactly what's growing in your garden. Removing invasive plants such as garlic mustard can be time-consuming and labor-intensive, but on the bright side, it's even more healthy exercise and will benefit other plants.
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Having a fully native plant lawn is a great way to save time and money. Native plants require less water and fertilizer, saving on bills and shopping expenses. They also don't need as much maintenance, saving gardeners a lot of time.
Installing a natural lawn provides homeowners with these benefits. Even a partial lawn replacement will ultimately save time and money. Some great options to consider are clover and buffalo grass.
Native plants are also great for the environment. They provide critical biodiversity and create a healthy ecosystem for pollinators, which do the important job of protecting our food supply.
Commenters on the Reddit post were supportive of the original poster eating the garlic mustard and also eradicating it from their yard before it spreads.
One user wrote: "It's definitely garlic mustard. Very invasive. Remove before it takes over!"
"Very tasty for pesto if you like pesto, but also invasive so remove it soon!" another suggested.
One Redditor had similar ideas for how to use the garlic mustard and said: "Go ahead and pull this guy up, get the roots if you can. Feed it to your chickens or make pesto out of it yourself."
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Gardener asks questions after noticing plant sprawling across yard: 'It will take over an entire area if you let it' first appeared on The Cool Down.