A Week of the Weeds - Charlock

Charlock: Sinapis arvensis

It's a brassica - you can tell that on sight.  But which one and what is it doing popping up all over the garden this winter?  It's wild alright but is it wild turnip or wild mustard.  It turns out to be Charlock, which is probably THE native brassica. In seed form it is very persistent. Garden Organic advise that seeds last 12 years in dry storage but 35 to 60 years in the soil!!  Sadly the plants are host to all the brassica problems including root fly,  clubroot and cabbage whites.  For a full verification I should let these seedlings mature, but I am not keen to do that.  The bit that nailed the identification for me was the advice that Charlock can be introduced as a birdseed alien.  It is around the bird feeding stations that these seedlings have appeared.  Either direct or after passing through the digestive tract of the birds I am convinced that the birdseed is the source of these plants.  They are all coming out.