Ever since the first European explorer’s boot pressed a hitchhiking seed from the homeland into New World soil, the spread of exotic invasive plants has threatened native plant communities in North America. Some plants were brought over with a specific purpose in mind– food–only to escape the garden and run rampant where they are unwanted. Garlic mustard is one of these guys, and it’s a tough competitor for native woodland flowers and tree seedlings across the country.

Rather than eradicate it with noxious chemicals, why not harvest it before seedset and enjoy it for its original purpose: eating! That’s what the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden and Bird Sanctuary has done this year with their
“Garlic mustard goes gourmet” campaign. Partnering with my favorite Twin Cities locavore restaurants Lucia’s and Heartland, garlic mustard harvested (aka weeded) in the garden will be served up in delicious entrées. What a great idea.

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Now that spring is finally arriving in the Upper Midwest, we are all gearing up to blaze out of our hives into our gardens and farmers markets. I only hope that the bees who jet out on their own spring forays make it home this year, or our gardens and markets may have less to offer than we hope for.

You may have heard last year that many honeybees leaving their hives on their way to flowers got lost on the way home. Beehives across the country turned up empty, and many crops went under-pollinated — reducing crop yield by a scary margin for many farmers. This phenomenon is called Colony Collapse Disorder (C.C.D.) and was witnessed from Maine to California and even abroad.

We don’t know why this is happening to bees, but here are some opportunities to do what you can to support the bees and farmers:

Plant a wide variety of native plants and flowers in your garden to provide bees with the right kind of nectar and pollen for your region throughout the warm months.

Shop at your farmers market or subscribe to a CSA. The Seward Co-op is hosting their CSA fair this weekend. This link also has a great list of links to local farmers to check out. I’m especially looking forward to the Midtown Farmers market opening on May 3.

And, of course, skip the chemicals in your lawn and garden care and avoid GMO’s everywhere. These are on the list of possible causes for C.C.D., but who needs an excuse to do this anyway?

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Phoenix may be better known for it’s epic sprawl, but its wonderful desert plant life is easily accessible from just about anywhere in the city through the trail and desert preserves system. Our foray to the Desert Botanic Garden yielded great colors, cactus blooms and the aromas of heated earth and plant life. The antidote I was looking for as everyone froze in subzero Minneapolis weather this weekend.

From the left — I love the purplish green cast of this Opuntia gosseliniana – from the mostly edible family of prickly pear cacti. I’m waiting for id’s on the other two since I didn’t take any field notes. The weekend was devoted to taking it easy with my mom, aunt and 1.5 year old daughter, so there was less botanizing than I would have liked, but plenty of pretty plant looking.

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I’m headed to Phoenix, AZ this weekend to spend some time with relatives. My mental images of Arizona were formed by the book High Tide in Tucson, by Barbara Kingsolver (my favorite author). I’m excited to see some plants that aren’t dormant for the winter…maybe even some blooming cacti at the Desert Botanical Garden. Photos of what I find next week…

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I just ordered all my heirloom garden seeds from the very cool outfit Seed Savers Exchange in NE Iowa. I’ve been the keeper of a patch of dirt in an original victory garden – one that has been producing food for neighborhood residents for 65 years – for the last three years. Even though my plot looks derelict next to the English garden style plots that other gardeners have, I grow delicious lemon cucumbers, lots of basil, and, my favorite, raspberries and cutting flowers with a minimum of labor.

I also have a couple of scrappy raised beds in my yard at home where I grow greens and herbs I use daily. The most work I do all year is to order the seeds and plant them. Then I pretty much check out and hope for the best. I’d probably double my yield if I bothered to water more than four or five times a summer, but it’s amazing what grows even with the chronic neglect my plants get from day one.

This is my idea of a great way to eat and also cut down on my annual food miles .

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