In the Winter you have less to keep up with in the Garden and there can be a tendency to ignore it. Doing so though can put you far behind in the spring with the maintenance that could have been done during the nicer days in Winter.

There are two major weeds that like to proliferate in my gardens during the winter, one of which will even stay during the summer.

Gill-Over-the-Ground (Glechoma hederacea) or ground ivy is an invasive non-native plant that will run rampant in your garden if not tended to. Gill-Over-the-Ground is native to Eurasia and particularly tough to eradicate because of the fact that it spreads by both stolons (runners) as well as seed dissemination. Spreading by the use of runners makes it very hard to just “dig” this weed out. If you miss even the tiniest of root the plant will grow right back. Meaning your time weeding by hand will have been in vain. Gill-Over-the-Ground is not without its benefits though it was widely used by the Saxons in brewing ale as flavoring, clarification, and a preservative. It was then used by the English, until the late 15th Century, before the introduction of hops into brewing which changed the ale into beer.

It has also been used in the cheese-making process as a substitute for animal rennet.

While there are uses to this plant the major issue is that it is not native to North America and will easily take over your native plants. The best way to eradicate it is to use the cardboard lasagna method. Basically you would take pieces of cardboard and put it over top of where the weeds are, being careful not to cover any of your dormant native plants. If you aren’t sure where your plants are it would be best to wait until the spring when you can see them coming up. Once you’ve placed your cardboard then cover it with a healthy layer of mulch. Using the cardboard process both smothers the weed and the added bonus of giving your worms a delicious snack. It will further amend your soil once the worms break it down and create an all around better garden.

The second weed is much easier to deal with. Pennsylvania Bittercress (Cardamine Pensylvanica) is a native plant and covers much of Canada as well as the United States. It’s an annual, meaning unless it goes to seed it’s not going to come back next year. It won’t even hang around for the summer as it does back in early June.

All parts of Pennsylvania Bittercress are considered edible. Young leaves are delicious raw, while the older leaves need to be cooked. Seed pods can be eaten raw, stir fried, or pickled, but only before seeds mature and harden. The roots when mixed with vinegars make a good horseradish substitute.

Eradicating this weed takes minimal work. The roots are shallow and you don’t even have to get rid of all of them. You just need to keep it from going to seed. If you accomplish this you’ll be easily able to reduce this weed in your gardens.

Hopefully this helps you with identifying these weeds and eliminating them. If you need help confirming these weeds, or identifying others, please feel free to post pictures in the comments and I’ll be happy to help!

Happy Gardening!