We had another evening of weeding this week, rooting out the last of the garlic mustard (I hope!), some dog-strangling vine, tansy and thistles. For variety we watched John take part in a study of Japanese Knotweed genetics. This very leaf provided a small sample to be mailed off for testing and comparison to other JK across the US.



I wonder about this glove every time I walk by it. I suspect it marks the final resting place of a fellow steward who lost the battle with dog-strangling vine:



The blue flags always look pretty in the pond:



The black locust trees in the area are in flower. I'm told these smell wonderful, but I haven't checked yet. Stay tuned for a report on this. Strictly speaking, black locust trees are on our black list (non-native), and I shouldn't encourage them, but just this once, in the name of science, I'll give them a sniff.

Next week we're going to have a special wildflower-planting session on Wednesday. Hopefully we'll get lots of people to help us fill in all the bare patches that used to hold garlic mustard.