How to grow Wild Garlic

How to grow Wild garlic - Introduction

• • A member of the onion family, wild garlic is starting to become fashionable, mainly due to the popularity of food foraging, and some chefs starting to take an interst as well.

  • They take up very little space, and the whole plant can be eaten from top to bottom.

  • Wild garlic are perennial evergreen plants, and keep their leaves in most winters.

  • In colder winters, the leaves may die back completely, but don't despair - their roots are still alive and they will begin new growth next spring.

How to grow Wild garlic - Crop rotation

• • Wild garlic is a member of the onion family and it is recommended that it should not be grown in soil that has grown other family members in the last three years.

  • The bed should be taken out of the rotation system as this becomes a permanent crop.

How to grow Wild garlic - Position and Soil

• • Wild garlic thrives in well drained soil, rich in organic matter, with a pH of 6-7 and full sun. However, it will grow in almost all soils.

  • Work in a handful or two of bonemeal per square metre (yard).

  • Full sun or partial shade suit them equally well, and although they are fairly tolerant of drought, don't plant them in very dry places.

How to grow Wild garlic - Propagation

How to grow Wild garlic - Sowing seed

• • Wild garlic can be grown from seed and mature in summer, or early the following spring.

  • Sow the seeds indoors using normal potting compost in March time (or directly outside in April-June) .

  • Typically, Wild garlic need to be germinated at a temperature of 15°C to 20°C and kept moist.

  • The seedlings will appear a week to ten days later.

  • Transfer them outside a month after sowing with 10cm (8in) between each plant.

  • Best grown as a clump, rather than in soldierly rows.

How to grow Wild garlic - Propagating by Division

Bulblets are about 2cm (4/5 inch) in length

• • Wild garlic are very similar to other onions, in that they have bulbous roots and green leaves.

  • The bulbs multiply quickly over a few years and this bounty of new bulbs provides the easiest method of propagation.

  • Simply dig up the clump of bulbs in March or October, carefully separate them into individual bulbs and replant with the tips of the bulbs level with the soil surface.

  • They thrive on this method of propagation, because it relieves the congestion in the bulb clumps.

How to grow Wild garlic - Care & Cultivation

• • Wild garlic are not greedy feeders, so it is not necessary to feed throughout the year if the soil has been prepared as described.

How to grow Wild garlic - Harvesting

• • Cut the wild garlic leaves with scissors when required, starting with the outside leaves (those nearest the edge of the pot) and working your way inwards.

  • When harvesting, the needed number of stalks should be cut to the base.

  • The leaves rapidly grow back and can be cut several times in the growing season, so giving a continuous harvest.

  • Plants grown from seed should be left alone (although remove the emerging flower heads) until July in the first year to allow a good root system to establish itself.

How to grow Wild garlic - Kitchen Notes

• • Cut some leaves, as described above.

  • Clean them up by washing in a sieve using cold running water.

  • They have the ability to tangle like spaghetti, so you might want to shorten them. It may be that the tangle appeals to you.

  • Sauté them with butter and salt.

  • Delicious with any red meat dish.

  • Recipes for the bulbs can be found on the web.

How to grow Wild garlic - Storage & Preserving

• • They can be dried, but their is little point because they then have no flavour.

  • One way to store them is to chop the leaves into 1cm (half inch) lengths and place them in ice cube containers with some water.

  • Freeze them, and then defrost an ice cube or two when need to use them.

How to grow Wild garlic - Pests and Disease

• • They are almost completely free of disease, but they occasionally suffer from onion fly, however this is almost always because they have been planted near onions which have been attacked - the solution is not to plant wild garlic near onions.