Public enemy - wild garlic

Fri 25 Apr 2014, 20:04

Thanks to those who contributed to the wild garlic question - it really is a public enemy. I phoned WODC and the man I spoke to said he had the same problem. I said I had a very thick carpet and did he think, if I covered the garlic with it, it would kill the stuff? He thought it worth a try. It will look a bit odd but it does have a floral pattern.

On a positive note we haven't been troubled by vampires.

Thu 17 Apr 2014, 17:39 (last edited on Thu 17 Apr 2014, 17:58)

The white flowered plant taking over parts of the churchyard is Allium Paradoxum, or Few Flowered Leek, it is a non-native garlic (native garlics are also members of the Allium family). As a non -native it is on schedule 9 for invasive plants which should not be released outside of gardens. It will swamp the early spring flowers e.g. bluebells, circuses, snowdrops but will die back later in the early summer. It will spread very quickly once it has taken hold.

Mon 14 Apr 2014, 12:31

If it gets into your garden you'll find it difficult to get rid of it (the Botanic Garden in Oxford have a similar alium introduced a couple of hundred years ago, which they can't get rid of. They deal with it by having teams of weeders sieving the soil for bulbils, wearing surgical gloves and boots so that tiny bits of bulbil don't get into the lawns and other beds). If your neighbours know you're deliberately putting it into your garden they won't be very happy with you.

I've tried various strengths of roundup in various gardens I do which have wild garlic. The wild garlic still survives.

Mon 14 Apr 2014, 11:04

Chop it into salads too, very nice. (Along with jack-by-the-hedge which grows prolifically.) If anyone has some spare bulbs, I'll take them off their hands! By the way, another name for wild garlic is ramsons, from which the village of Ramsden gets its name.

Sun 13 Apr 2014, 12:32

I am afraid that you will not get rid of it unless you dig up the bulbils (the small bulbs from which it grows)

Sun 13 Apr 2014, 11:26

If we all pick it we will save money, enhance the flavour of our meals, and get rid of it!

Sat 12 Apr 2014, 09:54

I met somebody picking it last year, said it made much better soup than cultivated garlic

Fri 11 Apr 2014, 23:19

Anyone walking through the Churchyard recently may have noticed an unpleasant smell near the Church Lane gate. It's caused by a form of wild garlic - unfortunately not the sort used in smart restaurants. It is massively invasive and has spread to verges and gardens. My garden has huge patches of it which strangles other flowers such as bluebells and snowdrops. Does anyone have any ideas as to how to deal with it other than moving?