Ramson, which is often called flask or bear's onion and garlic, is a spicy plant that can be found in city markets in early spring. Ramson literally grows out of the snow, and numerous collectors of this greenery rush into the forests to collect it. But it turns out that growing homemade wild garlic from seeds in garden beds is also possible. Today we will tell you how to grow this healthy and tasty plant on your own plot, especially since wild garlic, or rather growing from seeds, is not difficult.
Ramson is a perennial green plant from the onion family, however, in aroma, appearance and taste it is more reminiscent of garlic. The leaves of wild wild garlic actually resemble young shoots of forest lily of the valley, but the confusion goes away as soon as the plant blooms. Bear's garlic blooms discreetly, but charmingly: first, a single arrow-stem rises up from the foliage, on which an umbrella-peduncle then blooms.
The wild garlic flower has the shape of a small ball, on which small white buds open. At the very beginning of summer, wild garlic fruits appear - triangular miniature cups, with dark, almost black seeds ripening inside.
Types of bear bow
Two types of wild plants are called flask or wild garlic. Both of them have a similar appearance, taste and are used as food, but differ in the flowering and ripening season, growing area, and size.
Table 1. What types of wild garlic are there?
| View | Description |
|---|---|
| Victory bow (Russian flask) | Grows in the Siberian, Altai, Ural regions, in the forests of the Kamchatka Territory, Sakhalin and the Caucasus. The Russian flask blooms at the end of August, and the period of seed ripening lasts until the first frost. It has large dark leaves, a bulb with a diameter of about two centimeters, a long and tall stem-peduncle on which white-green buds bloom. |
| Bear onion (European wild garlic) | This plant grows in Mediterranean forest belts, Scandinavian forests, and European territories in the west and center (hence the second name of bear onion). The flowering time of this species occurs at the very beginning of summer, and the first collection of leaves of European wild garlic begins after the snow has melted. It has two or three small leaves, a bulb about a centimeter in diameter, an arrow-peduncle reaches a length of about 30 centimeters, the plant blooms with white flowers. |
Useful properties of wild garlic
Fresh young wild garlic is entirely suitable for cooking and eating: you can eat both leaves and stems, including their white parts located closer to the bulb. The piquant, slightly islandy taste of wild garlic is perfectly revealed in vegetable salads, soups, and serves as a seasoning for fish and meat. You can also cook wild bear onions: fry and bake, use as a filling for pies, ferment, pickle and pickle - there are a lot of recipes. However, all the unique beneficial qualities of wild garlic are better preserved when eaten fresh.
Another fact about the benefits of wild garlic is that it removes toxic substances, harmful deposits, and chemicals from the human body, and has detoxifying properties. Fresh young wild garlic is indicated for consumption by people with poor appetite, problems with the gastrointestinal tract (gastritis, colitis, etc.).
It has been proven that positive changes come from eating wild garlic when:
- Vascular diseases.
- Thyroid dysfunction.
- High blood pressure.
- Bronchitis, pneumonia and other respiratory ailments.
- Problems with gums and oral cavity.
- Obesity.
- Oncological and radiation diseases.
- Ischemia, atherosclerosis.
Prices for wild garlic seeds
wild garlic seeds
How to grow wild garlic on your own plot?
Ramson is a picky plant, but in order to succeed in its cultivation, you need to prepare the place for future planting correctly. Under natural conditions, wild onions grow in shaded areas and do not like direct sunlight, so you need to plant them in the shade or partial shade falling from large trees. If you plant wild garlic in the sun, you will need to weed and water it often, and the leaves will grow small and not juicy, with a less pronounced spicy taste.
The soil also needs to be prepared correctly. Slightly acidic (wild onions will not take root in acidic) or neutral soil is suitable; it is also important for wild garlic that the soil is loose. The site for planting must be selected in a place where moisture does not stagnate, since excessive moisture will lead to rotting of the plant roots.
How does wild garlic reproduce?
Propagation of wild garlic is available in two ways: planting bulbs and planting seeds. The first method is more expensive, since only one plant can grow from one bulb, so propagating wild onions by seeds is more convenient and preferable for many gardeners. Below we will tell you in detail how to grow a decent harvest from wild garlic seeds.
Seed preparation
If you are going to plant a plant for the first time, you can purchase seeds ready for planting in a specialized gardening department or at markets. The purchase must be made in the summer, the optimal time frame is from mid-July to the onset of autumn. It is important to evaluate the appearance of the seeds - they should be dark, smooth and always round. Deflated, dry seeds will not sprout. Check the expiration date on the packaging, and if the seeds are stored for longer than a year, it is better not to purchase them.
If it is possible to collect the seeds yourself, this will be the best solution. Wild garlic seeds ripen in mid-summer, and it is better to go to the forest in early July. The boxes in which the seeds are hidden should be yellowed, but not yet too hard. You need to prepare any bag or container into which the seeds are carefully shaken out. At home, you need to dry the “harvest” on the windowsill and then store it in a dark, dry place.
Preparing the land for sowing
Ramson is a perennial planting and will grow in the chosen location for several years, so before the first sowing you need to carefully prepare the soil. Here's what to do:
- Limit the area where wild garlic will be planted in the future, so as not to forget where the seeds were placed. Knowing where the bed begins and ends, you can easily water and loosen the soil. Also, fencing the area will prevent you from forgetting about the plantings - there are often cases when another crop was planted on top of the seeds.
- If the selected area is flooded with spring waters, or there is a river or pond nearby, you must first lay drainage in the soil. You can use crushed stone, large expanded clay or broken brick. Drainage should be laid to a depth of one meter.
- The soil needs to be dug up well and loosened to a depth of about 50 centimeters (this is exactly the length of wild garlic roots that grow), and cleared of weeds. Then the future bed needs to be enriched with organic fertilizer: it is better to use bird droppings, manure or leaf humus (one bucket of fertilizer per square meter of bed). After fertilizing, the soil is dug up again.
When to plant wild garlic?
There are two options for planting wild garlic - spring and autumn. Depending on the chosen season, the planting process, as well as the preliminary preparation of seeds, will differ. For greater convenience, we present both options in table form.
Table 2. Autumn and spring planting of seeds
| We plant in the fall (the first days of September) | Plant in spring (early May) |
|---|---|
| Step 1. Make furrows up to 5 centimeters deep in the prepared soil. The distance between the rows of furrows is about 20 centimeters. | Step 1. First, the seeds are stratified - placed in a container with damp sand and put in the refrigerator or on the balcony (at a temperature of minus 1-3 degrees) for two to three months. If stratification is not done, then the planted seeds will sprout only next year. |
| Step 2. Seeds are poured into the furrows at the rate of 10 grams of seeds per square meter of bed. | Step 2. Frozen seeds are planted in the same way as during autumn planting. It is important to water and weed the garden bed during the first weeks. Spring plantings are very delicate, you need to care for them carefully! |
| 3. The seeds are sprinkled with a small layer of peat, about a centimeter, and then covered with earth. | Step 3. In the first year, wild garlic sprouts may be stunted and weak, so you don’t need to harvest the entire crop right away - it’s better to wait until next year until the plant gets stronger. |
How to care for wild garlic in the garden?
Wild onions require minimal care, but you still need to monitor the plantings! Firstly, the soil into which the seeds are sown and on which seedlings have already appeared must be watered regularly. But, watering should be moderate, since the roots will simply rot in excessively wet soil. Plants need to be fed monthly with mineral fertilizers, and a couple of times a season you can apply organic fertilizers - humus, bird droppings.
It is important to regularly loosen the soil in the garden bed, as well as weed the wild garlic. Young crops are seriously damaged by weeds such as nettle and wheatgrass. Therefore, the garden bed must be kept clean!
As for insect pests, they do not bother the plant too much because of its spicy strong odor. But, in the hot summer, leaf miner fly larvae can appear on the leaves and stems of wild garlic. They actively gnaw leaves, making entire tunnels in them, and after the attack of the larvae, the wild garlic becomes unsuitable for consumption, so it is necessary to combat pests. This is easy to do - 50 grams of salt are dissolved in a bucket of water, and the bed is watered with the resulting solution (along with plant leaves) before dark.
Another ailment that can affect wild garlic is “rust”. It manifests itself as follows: brown “burns”, light yellow or orange spots appear on the leaves. This disease can destroy all plantings, so you need to pick and destroy the affected leaves as quickly as possible, and for treatment, spray the bushes with a mixture of laundry soap shavings (2 tablespoons) and copper oxychloride (a tablespoon per ten liters of cold water).
After the wild garlic has finally taken root in its designated place, after two or three years, new “nests” will appear at the base, in place of one bulb. At this moment, the wild garlic needs to be planted, otherwise the root system will not cope with the load, the plant will grow, become smaller, and then wither ahead of time. Every seven years, wild onion bushes should be carefully dug up and the bulbs moved to unplanted ground, to a new place, otherwise the plant will gradually degenerate.
Prices for copper oxychloride
copper oxychloride
How to harvest?
It is important not only to plant wild garlic correctly and care for the plantings, but also to correctly harvest wild onion bushes so as not to damage the plant. You need to understand that the bulbs need time to properly recover. Therefore, in order not to destroy the plantings with your own hands, you need to pick wild onion leaves according to the rules:
- Yes, young wild garlic has its sharpest and most delicate taste in April - early May. But the sooner the leaves are torn off, the more time and effort the plant will need to grow new ones.
- The first harvest from a young planting is cut with a knife, separating one or two top leaves as carefully as possible. The third leaf must be left on the bush so that the plant can sprout new shoots.
- You can cut off absolutely all the leaves from mature bushes, but it is better not to do this every time, so that the wild garlic has time to accumulate strength for new growth. Therefore, it is recommended to have two beds with wild onions - with young seedlings and mature bushes - in order to harvest one by one, giving the plants a rest.
Video - Details about wild garlic
Now is the time to start preparing for growing wild garlic at home. Growing wild garlic in a pot is not as easy as cultivated varieties of garlic. North American mountain slopes, shady and damp litter of deciduous forests are considered to be native to the “garlic-scented lily of the valley”. Ramson is one of the first plants to appear in the spring, covering entire carpets of garlic-smelling greenery.
Wild garlic began to be cultivated not so long ago. In Western restaurants, the demand for it has increased and the collection of wild garlic in the forest began to threaten this type of plant. Wild garlic is now being researched in universities, with agricultural biologists working on practical methods for growing wild garlic under controlled conditions. I don’t have the opportunity to collect it in the forest, so next season I will try to grow some wild garlic at home.
The growth cycle of wild garlic
Ramson grows under the canopy of beech, birch, maple, poplar, oak and linden forests. The plant likes among nettles, cinquefoil, and ginseng.
Seeds germinate in March and early April in cool, shaded places with high humidity, abundant rotting foliage and soil rich in organic matter. As the temperature rises, the wild garlic sheds its leaves and by June throws out a stem with a flower. The seeds ripen by September. Unfortunately, such conditions cannot be created in a garden on a windowsill.
How to grow wild garlic at home
If it is difficult to grow wild garlic in the garden, but it is possible, then accomplishing this feat in a pot on the windowsill is a real challenge. Ramson needs a shaded place, under fruit trees in a garden. How can I create similar conditions for her at home?
Growing wild garlic from bulbs is much easier than from seeds, but I have no idea where I can get these bulbs. We are not looking for easy ways; we will grow wild garlic from seeds.
Stratification of wild garlic seeds
Wild garlic seeds require storage at temperatures up to 0°+3°C for at least three months. The seeds should be no older than last year's - they spoil very quickly. Since the seeds last a long time, they need to be stratified in damp sand. Perhaps a glazed loggia, where the temperature does not drop below zero, would be suitable.
Soil preparation
Forest soil with rotten leaves would be ideal. Garden soil under pears and apples is also suitable. The main condition is a lot of humus, organic matter, the soil must breathe and be well moistened. If there is no way to bring soil from the forest, then purchased soil should be fertilized with organic fertilizer or compost. Prepare fallen leaves for mulching or any organic mulch - bark, larger sawdust, wood chips. Do not take pine waste, only fruit or leaf waste.
Sowing wild garlic
After stratification, we sow the seeds preferably in containers or spacious deep pots. In the first year we will try to grow bulbs for the next season. The ground should be damp. Fill the container two-thirds, distribute the seeds over the surface in 10 cm increments, sprinkle with a thin layer of soil and moisten with a spray bottle. We mulch and cover with film, but with holes for air access. We hide it in a dark, cool place. In a couple of weeks we are looking for a warmer place, but without access to sunlight. As soon as the shoots appear, place containers with wild garlic under the windowsill away from direct rays.
After two seasons, the roots of the bulb will drop to 20 cm; this must be taken into account when choosing a container for planting wild garlic.
Watering
The soil for wild garlic should always be moist. For such specific plants that love humidity, I prefer to use a spray bottle during the day; I try not to overwater, but also not to leave the surface dry.
Harvesting
During the first season, wild garlic will serve you as an ornamental plant; we will start cutting the greens only next year; it is recommended to wait even 2 years before harvesting.
When collecting, try to cut a leaf from the bush so that the wild garlic bulb can receive nutrition and grow stronger, because the plant is perennial and the harvest for the next season will depend on the bulb.
Wintering
As soon as the wild garlic has faded (this does not always happen in the first year) and all the leaves have fallen off, you can pack the container in perforated film and place it in a cool, dark place. The container with wild garlic bulbs should not freeze and the soil should not dry out.
Reproduction
After 2-3 years, the wild garlic bulbs can be dug up and the bushing plants can be divided. If flowering at home is successful, you can collect your seeds for further propagation.
Growing wild garlic in the country will help you always have healthy greens on hand. It is not always possible to go into the wild for wild onions. And such a trip can be very expensive: the plant is listed in the Red Book, and collecting it can result in a fine. Why do you need shame and financial costs? The plant is unpretentious, caring for it will not take much time, but in early spring you will have vitamin-rich greens that you can pick at any time, without having to hide from foresters and rangers.
Preparatory work
In the wild, wild garlic grows in forests and meadows under deciduous trees. This symbiosis is very important: plants receive the sunlight necessary for development before the leaves bloom on the trees. In summer, the above-ground part withers and the entire colony of bulbs goes into hibernation. By that time, the forest is covered with dense foliage, and the light does not disturb the calm state of the rhizomes. That is why wild onions are not found in coniferous forests: pines and fir trees do not create a comfortable environment for them.
Ramson has adapted to any conditions; it does not need to look for a special place on the site. Select a corner where crops that require lighting, soil composition and moisture cannot grow. The shade is even better: without bright light, the foxes will be large and juicy, and caring for the plantation will become much easier.
Convenient places for garden beds:
- under fruit trees;
- along the fence;
- between rows of bushes.
Although the plant is not very demanding on the soil, in order to obtain rich harvests it is necessary to create comfortable conditions for it. Dig up the soil with a shovel full, apply fertilizer to the infertile soil, and the garden bed will delight you with tender spring greenery for several years.
When digging, for each m2 it is advisable to add:
- organics – 1 bucket;
- phosphorus fertilizers – 30 g;
- potash fertilizers – 20 g;
- ammonium nitrate – 15g.
Features of planting seeds and bulbs
There are 2 ways to propagate wild garlic: sowing seeds and planting bulbs, and each method has its own characteristics. Planting grains requires warm weather. The best germination is observed at a temperature of about +20⁰. It is advisable to do this work in the spring or late summer. The fresher the seeds, the more of them will be viable. Buy them before planting and be sure to look at the packaging date. It is advisable to collect grains from existing plants immediately before planting.
To obtain seeds, cut off the capsules when they just begin to turn yellow. If the shell has become hard, it means that the plant has entered a dormant state and the activity of the embryos has decreased.
If planting takes place in September, make furrows 1 cm deep, 20 cm apart. Seeds should not be sown frequently; the distance between plants should be at least 10 cm. Sprinkle with soil and a thin layer of black soil. There is no need to mulch yet, since the mulch layer should be no thinner than 5 cm. The seedlings will not be able to break through such a thickness; they will not have enough light to develop. You can cover the bed with leaves for the winter, but be sure to clear the soil in the spring. During the cold season, some grains will lose their viability and will not sprout; these places can be sown in the spring. When planting is planned for May, it is necessary to stratify the seeds in the winter. Keep the grains at 0⁰ for 3 months. When warm days arrive, plant them as you would in the fall.
Planting bulbs is much easier, but only one plant will emerge from each root, and not all of them will survive. This method is convenient if you decide to destroy a plantation at your dacha and arrange a garden bed in another place. This work needs to be done in the second half of summer, when the plants have already gone into hibernation. Make nests 30 cm apart from each other, plant 2 roots in each hole. Do not bury the bulbs; the dry shell of the feathers should be visible from the ground. In the spring, pull out weak bushes so that one specimen remains in each hole.
Caring for wild onions
The main care for wild garlic consists of watering during dry periods and weed control. Apply nitrogen fertilizer in early spring to promote vigorous green growth. During the flowering period, you need to feed the plantings with a complete complex fertilizer for the development of the bulbs. When the leaves begin to fade, caring for the bed can be considered complete; the plants do not need any watering or nutrients.
In the summer, carefully inspect the bed. Every year the bulbs rise slightly to the surface of the soil. Mulch the entire soil with a thick layer of leaves, so the plants will feel at home in their native environment. If winters in your area are frosty and have little snow, cover the garden bed with straw before frost. In spring, the shelter must be removed.
For the first 2 years, do not tear the young leaves, let the plant develop and gain strength. If at this time the onion sends out a flower arrow, break it off so that the plant has more energy to develop the bulbs. If you grow wild garlic from seeds, when the plants mature, remove weak specimens to give the strong bushes more space.
Homemade wild onions
Growing wild garlic is also possible at home on the windowsill. Please note that although the height of the bulbs is very small, the roots of the plant go deep into the soil up to 20 cm. Take a container in which there will be room for the root system. You can buy it, or you can collect soil from a deciduous forest and add peat to it in half the volume of the brought soil. Do not dig under coniferous trees: wild garlic only grows under deciduous trees.
Planting seeds follows the same pattern as in open ground. After sowing, moisten the soil and cover the container with film. In a warm place, seedlings will appear in about a month. When the sprouts emerge from the ground, place the container in partial shade. When planting bulbs, they are buried 3-5 cm into the soil and watered well.
Caring for home garden beds is almost no different from growing outdoors. Water the soil so that it is always moist, loosen the crust that appears. In summer, it is advisable to take the containers out into the fresh air. It is believed that when grown at home, greens turn out even juicier and tastier than those harvested from the garden.
Conclusion
Ramson is one of the first plants that supplies animals and humans with fresh vitamins after a long winter. Due to massive collection in many areas, it is under threat of destruction. In addition, the season of its appearance occurs simultaneously with the period of tick activity. Don’t put yourself in danger, leave the forest greens for the bears who are hungry during the winter, and you can grow wild onions for yourself in your summer cottage or on the windowsill at home.
If it is possible to purchase a sufficient number of bulbs, plant rhizomes in the garden bed; this method is much simpler. When sowing seeds in spring, it is necessary to carry out stratification. When the plants take root, your main worries will end. Now all that remains is to water occasionally and feed the plantings twice a season. And the most pleasant work lies ahead in the spring - collecting juicy, tasty leaves.
Ramson has elongated bulbs, the thickness of which is approximately 1 cm, a stem 15-20 cm high and 2 oblong leaves 10-20 cm long. The stem ends in flowers collected in a hemispherical umbrella. The plant awakens in early spring, blooms in May - early June and bears fruit in late June. Typically, wild garlic begins to bloom only at 3-4 years of age.
Ramson is an incredibly useful plant. It contains a huge amount of vitamin C, as well as vitamin A, fructose and essential oils. Wild onions are used to treat intestinal infections and scurvy, have anthelmintic and bactericidal properties, and help in the treatment of many diseases. It can be used for food both raw and fermented, pickled, salted, and added as a filling to flour products.
Ramson grows freely in the wild, but since it is listed in the Red Book, wild plants cannot be collected. But you can grow it on your own plot and eat it.
Agricultural technology of wild garlic
Features of cultivation
When planting any plant, you should try to create conditions that are as close to natural as possible. Ramson is quite unpretentious. Both sunny and not very lit areas of the garden are well suited for growing it. She can take root anywhere. Ramson can be planted even next to a fence, under a tree or in a damp lowland, because such conditions are quite suitable for it. Then the plant requires almost no care.
If you plant wild onions in a good sunny location, you will have to remove weeds, water the plant and replant it much more often. The leaves will also become smaller and coarser. Seeds should be planted at a temperature of 18-20 degrees, this is when their germination rate is greatest. At lower temperatures, germination drops significantly.
How does wild garlic reproduce?
Ramson can reproduce in 2 ways - by seeds and bulbs. It will be possible to find out whether the plant has taken root only a year after planting. The main disadvantage of propagation by bulbs is that each shoot creates only one new ovary. Not all of the new plantings will be accepted - germination in this case will be low.
When to plant wild garlic seeds
The best time for planting wild onions is considered to be spring (late April - early May) or late August - early September. At this point, the wild garlic seeds and bulbs take root very well. But you need to plant a plant differently in each of these periods.
Preparing the soil for wild garlic
Lighting
The lighting should not be too bright; wild garlic grows best in partial shade. In such conditions, its leaves become softer, larger and tastier. If there is too much sunlight, the leaves become coarse and sometimes even dry out.
Soil moisture
Ramson requires well-moistened soil, but constant flooding is best avoided. Bear onions especially do not like excessive moisture. In early spring, the plant does not tolerate stagnant moisture.
Soil composition
The soil should be slightly acidic or neutral, loose. Wild garlic grows very poorly in acidic soil. But it can grow well in both sand and clay.
Growing wild garlic from seeds
Preparations for planting seeds must be done in advance. They can be purchased at a flower shop or collected from the plant itself during ripening. You need to take only fresh seeds; if they were purchased a long time ago, this will certainly affect germination. New ones should be planted immediately after purchase or collection. When buying seeds, you should pay attention to the fact that they are round and smooth. If they are wrinkled, then the germination rate will be low.
You can also collect seeds for planting from the plant itself. When the boxes begin to turn yellow, they are removed immediately. At this time, they have the greatest germination rate, because the shell has not yet had time to harden. When the shell hardens, germination rate drops significantly, and the plant enters a dormant period.
Planting seeds before winter
Ramson is grown on small plots of land. You can also plant it in a pot that needs to be buried in the garden bed. This will help get rid of weeds and also avoid loss of seedlings during transplantation.
Sowing is carried out in September. You need to dig shallow grooves (about 1 cm), pour the seeds there at a sufficient distance from each other (about 10-15 cm). The distance between the rows should be about 20 cm. Then the seeds are buried in the ground and sprinkled with a thin layer of peat, humus or leaves on top.
In April, some of the seeds will sprout. Some die from self-digestion, so you shouldn’t count on 100% germination.
Stratification of wild garlic seeds
You can also sow wild garlic in the spring. But in this case, you first need to carry out stratification. The seeds are frozen for 3 months at a temperature of about 0 degrees, and then mixed with wet sand. In April, the seeds are planted in the usual way.
Caring for wild garlic seedlings
Watering and fertilizing wild garlic
Ramson does not require careful care. You just need to remember to water it during the dry season and prevent weeds from growing. You cannot loosen the soil deeply; it is better to add humus or peat. This will be an excellent fertilizer for the plant, and will also help the soil remain loose and soft. Fertilizers need to be applied as early as possible in order to feed the wild garlic, which has just begun to grow.
After 1-2 years, the wild garlic seedlings will need to be transplanted to a permanent place in neat rows. This must be done very carefully, because the first leaves are very tender and soft. If flower stalks appear on the plants, they should be broken off to avoid depletion of the bulbs.
Yulia Petrichenko, expert
Protection from pests and diseases
Pests rarely harm wild garlic. If damage appears on the leaves, you need to water the plants with a salt solution (100 grams per bucket of water). The next day, the remaining salt is washed off with plain water from a watering can.
Sometimes a coating similar to rust appears on the wild garlic. In this case, the affected plants are watered with a solution of copper oxychloride (1 spoon per 10 liters). A small amount of liquid soap is also added to it. After 1-2 weeks, spraying must be repeated. Leaves should not be eaten after spraying; it is better to wait a few weeks. But even then they will need to be washed thoroughly.
Harvesting
Wild onion leaves can only be harvested 3-4 years after planting. At this time, the bulbs gain sufficient mass and the plant becomes an adult. The first harvest is harvested by stripping the topmost leaves of the wild garlic. It is impossible to cut off all the leaves, since they will not have time to grow over the summer; as a result, the plant will not accumulate nutrients, and a new bulb will not be able to form.
Every year, an adult plant produces new bulbs instead of old ones, and wild garlic nests grow. Therefore, every 5-6 years wild onions must be transplanted to a new place.
Ramson is a very tasty and healthy plant. Planting it is not very difficult, the main thing is to remember certain rules. Also, wild garlic does not require special care; it can be grown in any climatic conditions.
How have you tried growing wild garlic? How did you look after her? Share your experience in the comments!
Now is the time to start preparing for growing wild garlic at home. Growing wild garlic in a pot is not as easy as cultivated varieties of garlic. North American mountain slopes, shady and damp litter of deciduous forests are considered to be native to the “garlic-scented lily of the valley”. Ramson is one of the first plants to appear in the spring, covering entire carpets of garlic-smelling greenery.
Wild garlic began to be cultivated not so long ago. In Western restaurants, the demand for it has increased and the collection of wild garlic in the forest began to threaten this type of plant. Wild garlic is now being researched in universities, with agricultural biologists working on practical methods for growing wild garlic under controlled conditions. I don’t have the opportunity to collect it in the forest, so next season I will try to grow some wild garlic at home.
The growth cycle of wild garlic
Ramson grows under the canopy of beech, birch, maple, poplar, oak and linden forests. The plant likes among nettles, cinquefoil, and ginseng.
Seeds germinate in March and early April in cool, shaded places with high humidity, abundant rotting foliage and soil rich in organic matter. As the temperature rises, the wild garlic sheds its leaves and by June throws out a stem with a flower. The seeds ripen by September. Unfortunately, such conditions cannot be created in a garden on a windowsill.
How to grow wild garlic at home
If it is difficult to grow wild garlic in the garden, but it is possible, then accomplishing this feat in a pot on the windowsill is a real challenge. Ramson needs a shaded place, under fruit trees in a garden. How can I create similar conditions for her at home?
Growing wild garlic from bulbs is much easier than from seeds, but I have no idea where I can get these bulbs. We are not looking for easy ways; we will grow wild garlic from seeds.
Stratification of wild garlic seeds
Wild garlic seeds require mandatory stratification at temperatures up to 0°+3°C for at least three months. The seeds should be no older than last year's - they spoil very quickly. Since the seeds last a long time, they need to be stratified in damp sand. Perhaps a glazed loggia, where the temperature does not drop below zero, would be suitable.
Soil preparation
Forest soil with rotten leaves would be ideal. Garden soil under pears and apples is also suitable. The main condition is a lot of humus, organic matter, the soil must breathe and be well moistened. If there is no way to bring soil from the forest, then purchased soil should be fertilized with organic fertilizer or compost. Prepare fallen leaves for mulching or any organic mulch - bark, larger sawdust, wood chips. Do not take pine waste, only fruit or leaf waste.
Sowing wild garlic
After stratification, we sow the seeds preferably in containers or spacious deep pots. In the first year we will try to grow bulbs for the next season. The ground should be damp. Fill the container two-thirds, distribute the seeds over the surface in 10 cm increments, sprinkle with a thin layer of soil and moisten with a spray bottle. We mulch and cover with film, but with holes for air access. We hide it in a dark, cool place. In a couple of weeks we are looking for a warmer place, but without access to sunlight. As soon as the shoots appear, place containers with wild garlic under the windowsill away from direct rays.
After two seasons, the roots of the bulb will drop to 20 cm; this must be taken into account when choosing a container for planting wild garlic.
Watering
The soil for wild garlic should always be moist. For such specific plants that love humidity, I prefer to use a spray bottle during the day; I try not to overwater, but also not to leave the surface dry.
Harvesting
During the first season, wild garlic will serve you as an ornamental plant; we will start cutting the greens only next year; it is recommended to wait even 2 years before harvesting.
When collecting, try to cut a leaf from the bush so that the wild garlic bulb can receive nutrition and grow stronger, because the plant is perennial and the harvest for the next season will depend on the bulb.
Wintering
As soon as the wild garlic has faded (this does not always happen in the first year) and all the leaves have fallen off, you can pack the container in perforated film and place it in a cool, dark place. The container with wild garlic bulbs should not freeze and the soil should not dry out.
Reproduction
After 2-3 years, the wild garlic bulbs can be dug up and the bushing plants can be divided. If flowering at home is successful, you can collect your seeds for further propagation.
Ramson or wild onion is a very useful perennial plant, which is valued for its large amount of vitamins and nutrients. Ramson and its cultivation from seeds are of interest to all supporters of a healthy lifestyle, because eating leaves, bulbs, and arrows has a positive effect on the functioning of the digestive and endocrine systems. Tips for growing wild garlic at home can be found in the article.
Ramson or wild onion is a very useful perennial plant, which is valued for its large amount of vitamins and nutrients.
Ramson, growing from seeds: when to plant?
According to reviews from successful summer residents, growing wild garlic in the country is not difficult, the main thing is to create natural conditions for the plant in which it usually grows. Wild onions can be found in nature in Altai, Siberia and the Far East. It grows in light shaded areas. Ramson loves moisture and calcium soils. Knowing these features, the summer resident will receive a large amount of fresh greens.
Wild garlic seeds sprout when planted in well-warmed soil. When the air temperature reaches +18 degrees, it’s time to start sowing. Summer residents recommend sowing wild garlic at the end of April - beginning of May, or at the end of summer - in August, September. In spring, wild onions take root well and produce excellent seedlings. In order for wild garlic to delight the summer resident with juicy, tender greens, it is important to create optimal growing conditions for the plant, namely:
- The area for planting wild onions should not be too sunny. The plant does not like to grow in the shade. When exposed to sunlight, wild garlic leaves become hard and small. Partial shade is simply an ideal place for sowing seeds. For example, you can organize a garden bed in the back of the garden;
- wild garlic is a crop that requires watering. At the same time, you should not over-moisten the soil, otherwise the roots will begin to rot. You can water wild garlic every day. However, the soil must be easily permeable. To do this, you can provide drainage or dig up an area with sand before planting;
- The soil for planting should be slightly acidic and loose. It is recommended to mix it with humus.
In order for wild garlic seeds to germinate well in the spring, it is important to carry out a stratification procedure before planting. For this purpose, they are kept in the refrigerator for a month or more, in a vegetable store. In April - May you can start sowing. Seeds collected with your own hands germinate well.
Ramson: planting seeds at home
Ramson and its cultivation from seeds are of interest to all supporters of a healthy lifestyle, because eating leaves, bulbs, and arrows has a positive effect on the functioning of the digestive and endocrine systems
After pre-planting preparation of seeds and selection of a planting site, you can begin sowing the material. To do this, make furrows up to 5 cm deep in the area, where seeds are sown, pre-mixed with sand. This makes it easier to control crops. Afterwards the bed is moistened.
You can grow wild garlic at home in a regular flower pot. A deep flowerpot is suitable, since the wild garlic bulb develops at a depth of about 20 cm. After stratification, the seeds are sown in a container with soil, sprinkled with them, and moistened with a spray bottle. The container is covered with a transparent film and sent to a dark, cool place. After 2-3 weeks, it is recommended to place the flowerpot with seeds in a warm, but not sunny place.
Wild onions grow well in moist soil. It is recommended to water daily using a spray bottle. It is recommended not to cut off the leaves in the first year after planting wild garlic. Let the plant grow stronger and grow well. In the fall, when the wild garlic has finished blooming, it is stored in a dark, cool place. However, from time to time it is worth taking out the plant and moistening the soil.
3 years after sowing the seeds, wild garlic bulbs will develop in the flowerpot, which can be used to propagate the plant. The wild garlic is carefully dug up, the bulbs are separated and planted in open ground or transplanted into other deep containers.
Growing wild garlic from seeds at home, video:
Ramson, growing from seeds of which is described in the article, is a troublesome, but very exciting task. Wild onions bloom beautifully and are often grown as an ornamental plant. However, eating the bulbs and aerial parts is very good for health, because wild garlic is a storehouse of vitamins and microelements. Have you managed to grow wild garlic at home? We invite you to share your experience in the comments.
ratings, average:
A representative of the onion family, wild garlic, has won the love of summer gardeners with its spicy and aromatic properties. Actually, this is a wild plant, but it is also available for cultivation in the garden. The article will tell you how to plant this plant with seeds, as well as how to harvest it at your dacha.
Growing wild garlic: two methods
There are several types of wild garlic. However, most often this word refers to the Bear Onion variety, which can be found in bunches on market shelves. This forest dweller resembles a lily of the valley in appearance and tastes like garlic. The bulbs of wild garlic are oblong, about 1 cm in length. The stem is triangular, up to 40 cm high. In the forest, wild garlic protects itself from destruction: it grows in swamps or thickets, and fades before haymaking begins. However, today the plant is still in the Red Book.
People value wild garlic for its taste and healing properties, which is why there is a fashion for growing it in their own garden. The process is simple. You just need to take into account a few nuances. In dacha practice today there are two ways to cultivate bear onions:
- In shady gardens or in partial shade near outbuildings.
- In beds next to vegetables and other plants.
Wild garlic bush
The task of the first option is to reproduce the natural growing environment of wild garlic: in the shade, dampness, lowlands - places where only the weed usually grows. The plant requires almost no care and gives a vitamin harvest in early spring. To grow garden bear onions, fertile neutral soil is required. The bulbs will be at a depth of 7-15 cm - the soil should be loose and airy. In this case, the shadow is not necessary.
How to plant and grow wild garlic
The principle of growing wild garlic is similar to the cultivation of traditional perennial onions. You can propagate the plant when it reaches the age of 4 years. This is done:
- seeds;
- bulbs.
The disadvantage of propagation by bulbs is that one shoot will replace only one plant next year. Bulbs are rooted in late summer - early autumn or mid-spring. The foliage is harvested after 3 years. If you intend to dig up the bulbs, break off the flower umbrella during the budding period, and then you will get larger tubers.
If you want to plant wild garlic with seeds, remember: after flowering (the plant throws out an umbrella of rounded white flowers), the fruit with planting material will ripen in June-July. You can collect seeds in the forest, but, firstly, it is not easy to find the place where wild garlic grows, and secondly, it is illegal due to the fact that it is in the Red Book. Ideal seeds are those that have already ripened, but have not yet fallen off.
Advice. The shell of bear onion seeds hardens quickly, so they need to be germinated when freshly harvested. Otherwise they will lose their germination. It is rational to buy them from mid-summer to autumn. Please check the packaging date carefully.
Seeds can be planted immediately in mulched soil - they will appear by September, or they can be sown before winter. You can also do this after stratification at t 0...-3 °C for 80-100 days. The first year of wild garlic should be spent in a box. On the second one, you can plant it in the ground, deepening it by 0.5-1 cm.
To ensure that the plant takes root in the soil, choose a place that warms up well in the spring. Do not allow the soil to dry out all year round. The plant will sprout next spring. You can cut the leaves after 5 years.
Attention! Seeds sown in the spring after stratification will sprout only a year later. For this reason, it is worth planting them before winter, in containers.
How to care for wild garlic and harvest
To grow bear onions, you need to be patient. One-year wild garlic is a small sprout with one leaf, two-year wild garlic is slightly larger in size. An adult plant is a small bush consisting of several leaves. Bear onions can produce a normal harvest in one place for no more than 7 years.
There are no innovative techniques in plant care:
- water frequently;
- loosen the soil;
- keep plantings clean;
Ramson does not require special care
- get rid of weeds;
- Fertilize wild garlic with mineral fertilizers and organic matter.
Moreover, in the first year or two you won’t even need this. After the growing season is completed, mulch the beds with peat, divide the bush and move it to a new area.
Advice. When picking leaves, try not to damage the inflorescences. The seeds in them will ripen, fall nearby and increase your “plantation” next year.
When the wild garlic grows enough to cut the leaves, start doing this immediately after the snow melts. Collect the arrows last, until the seeds of the plant become milky-waxy. Arrows have a superior taste to leaves and lend themselves well to pickling. Harvest bear onions in May, remembering to leave the bulbs in the soil. Leaves should be collected no more than once every couple of years, and in no case should you touch everything at once. Bulbs for further harvesting should be dug up in late autumn.
Like cultivated onions, wild garlic can be grown in jars or pots in winter. To do this, plant the bulbs at the end of October: the harvest will already be around the Christmas holidays. Difficulties in the growing process and a long wait will be rewarded with the first spring greens on your table.
Cheremsha: video
Growing wild garlic: photo
In nature, wild garlic is found everywhere in the Northern Hemisphere. You can also grow it in garden plots. The plant is extremely unpretentious, caring for it is very simple. Greens can be cut much earlier than other herbs; they are a source of vitamins and microelements, which is especially valuable in mid-spring after winter vitamin deficiency. The culture is widely used both in cooking and in folk medicine. The leaves of wild garlic are wide and flat, very similar to the leaves of lily of the valley. And it tastes like a cross between onion and garlic.
Propagation of wild garlic by seeds
Breeders are not yet particularly interested in wild garlic, although several varieties can still be found in stores. At the same time, due to deforestation, the plant in many regions is listed in the Red Book, because its natural habitat is irreversibly damaged. The names of the new varieties do not differ in originality and creativity of the approach - Bear Cub, Bear Ear, Bear Delicacy, Bear Paw. Wild wild garlic is often called “bear onion”, and the clearings in which it grows are called “bear meadows”. This nickname is due to the fact that when bears come out of hibernation, wild garlic is practically the only fresh greenery in the forest. Therefore, animals happily feast on young shoots.
The selection of wild garlic seeds in specialized stores cannot be called very wide.
Video: what wild garlic looks like
You can collect seeds yourself. Practice shows that approximately every tenth plant in the garden blooms every year. The inflorescence is shaped like an almost regular ball and consists of small white flowers. Round black seeds ripen in the second or third ten days of June in triangular fruit “boxes”. They are cut off when they begin to turn yellow. Then the shell will harden and it will be very difficult to open it without damaging the planting material for the next season. The seeds are poured out of the “box,” dried and stored in a dry, cool, dark place with good ventilation in paper bags or linen bags until planting. The “harvest” is 100–120 seeds per plant.
By collecting wild garlic seeds yourself, you can be sure of their freshness.
When purchasing, be sure to pay attention to the expiration date. They should have been collected last summer, not earlier. Older ones are no different in germination. They can also be distinguished by their appearance - they are not black and round, but grayish and wrinkled.
In spring, young wild garlic shoots appear almost from under the snow.
The area chosen for planting seeds is dug up in advance to a depth of 40–50 cm (the roots of the plants are quite powerful). At the same time, weeds and other plant debris are removed. Slaked lime, dolomite flour or eggshells crushed to a powder form (200–300 g per linear meter) are added to the acidic soil. You can also use wood ash - it is not only a good deoxidizer, but also saturates the soil with potassium and phosphorus. About two weeks before planting, the bed is loosened, adding organic fertilizer to increase soil fertility. Humus or rotted compost will do. But it is undesirable to use fresh manure and droppings. Such a potent agent can “burn” the roots of emerging seedlings.
Humus is an effective means of increasing soil fertility
Most gardeners practice autumn planting of wild garlic seeds, doing this in the first ten days of September. The latest possible date is mid-October. The specific time is chosen based on the climatic conditions in the region. The optimal temperature for them is about 20°C. If it exceeds 25–26°C or below 10°C within a month after planting, the gardener will, at best, wait for single shoots.
Before planting, the seeds definitely need stratification, simulating winter “hibernation”. They are mixed with sand or peat, the substrate is moistened and the container is placed in a refrigerator or other place with a constant temperature of 0–3°C for 80–100 days. Another option is to wrap the seeds in a wet cloth or paper napkin, put it in a glass jar and roll up the lid. The substrate is moistened as necessary. Usually once a week is enough. They need to be shaken periodically to ensure access to fresh air.
Seed stratification imitates their “wintering” under natural conditions
Video: seed stratification
To increase germination, seeds are soaked for 12–14 hours in a solution of any biostimulant. Both purchased drugs (Epin, Zircon, Emistim-M, Kornevin) and folk remedies (aloe juice, succinic acid, honey diluted with water) give the same effect.
Epin, like other biostimulants, helps increase seed germination; the treatment also has a positive effect on the plant’s immunity
Sow seeds in furrows 4–5 cm deep. Row spacing is about 20 cm. They are sown as evenly as possible, sprinkled with humus mixed with fine sand on top. It is not advisable to use peat crumbs; they strongly acidify the soil. Then the bed is covered with plastic film.
The first shoots will appear in the spring, somewhere in April, but not next year, but another season later. That is, the whole process takes about one and a half years. As practice shows, no more than a third of the seeds germinate. Immediately after this, the cover will need to be removed. When one true leaf is formed, the plants are planted, leaving 15–20 cm between them. This is done very carefully, removing them from the soil together with a lump of earth. The root system of young seedlings is very fragile. They are buried into the soil to a maximum of 5 cm. During the first two seasons of being in open ground, it is advisable not to disturb the plants by cutting off the leaves. It is better to give them the opportunity to form a developed root system. The plantings are cared for by regularly weeding the bed, very carefully loosening the soil and watering them.
You have to wait quite a long time for wild garlic seedlings to sprout
If there is a shortage of planting material, the seeds are planted in small peat pots filled with universal soil for seedlings or a mixture of humus and fertile turf. These containers are buried in the ground.
Another way to plant wild garlic seeds is using a so-called nursery. A shallow box is dug into the ground in a greenhouse or outdoors. Seeds are sown according to the pattern 0.5*0.5 cm. After two years, when the seedlings have grown and become stronger, they are planted and transferred to a permanent place. This allows you to avoid “crowding” in the garden.
Spring planting is also possible. The procedure is best planned for April. In this case, the bed is covered with any white, air-permeable covering material (agryl, lutrasil, spunbond). Shoots appear in May-June next year.
Ramson reproduces quite successfully by self-sowing, so after a while the plantings in the garden bed become very thick and the plants no longer have enough space to feed on. To avoid this, once every five years large groups of bulbs are divided and planted, moving to new places. In the same way, the plant can “spread” across the area, turning into an ordinary weed. Therefore, it is recommended to surround the bed with slate sheets dug in around the perimeter.
Video: growing wild garlic from seeds
Planting bulbs
Ramson is not picky, but in order for the plant to feel better and produce a good harvest, it is advisable, if possible, to recreate the natural conditions of its habitat. In nature, wild garlic grows in forests, along the banks of swamps, streams, and springs. The plant is not tall (20–50 cm), so it is shaded by trees and shrubs. Accordingly, it is best to plant it in the garden plot in the shade of a building, structure, fence, under a fruit tree, and so on. The crop does not like bright sun - the leaves become smaller, lose their juiciness, dry out, and the taste becomes less pronounced. For a gardener, this feature of the plant is an advantage - you can save space on the garden plot. In addition, a garden bed located in an open area will have to be weeded and watered much more often.
For wild garlic, you can set aside a place in the garden that, due to shading, is not suitable for most other crops.
Wild garlic does not have any special requirements for soil quality. It successfully takes root in both “light” sandy and “heavy” clay soil. The only thing that the plant categorically does not tolerate is an acidic substrate. The best option for it is loose soil that allows air and water to pass through well. In nature, wild garlic grows almost in a swamp, but in “captivity” it does not like waterlogging. It is especially dangerous in early spring - the bulbs almost inevitably rot. Therefore, it is not recommended to plant wild garlic in lowlands. Melt water lasts there the longest. If there is no alternative, you must take care of drainage by adding crushed stone, expanded clay, and pebbles to the soil. Or you will have to pour ridges about half a meter high.
Gardeners quite often resort to propagating wild garlic from bulbs. This method allows you to quickly get a harvest from a new plant. But it is not without certain drawbacks - only one new ovary is formed from each shoot. The optimal time for the procedure is August-September, when the growing season is already over and the plant has “hibernated”. By this time, the above-ground part dries out and dies, so specimens intended for division must be marked in advance, otherwise you simply will not find them in the garden bed. When using this propagation method, the gardener will receive the first harvest in the third year of the new plant’s life.
New wild garlic bulbs are formed annually
If there is a shortage of planting material, several bulbs can be planted in an open sunny place, and not in the shade, as usual. Such plants develop faster and “divide” much more actively, but they require more careful care, especially with regard to watering and weeding.
The bulbs are planted in the same pattern as the seedlings, leaving 15–20 cm between plants. They are buried into the soil by a maximum of 5 cm, the smallest by 2–3 cm. Dry “feathers” should be visible on the surface. The plantings are watered moderately, the soil is mulched with freshly cut grass, fallen leaves, and wood shavings, creating a layer 5–7 cm thick. It is not advisable to use fresh sawdust, especially coniferous sawdust, for this. The substrate quickly acidifies. It will be possible to judge whether the procedure was successful only next fall after the transplant. If everything went well, a new replacement bulb should form. The above-ground part of the plant practically does not develop during the summer; it pays main attention to the roots.
Replant wild garlic bulbs very carefully so as not to damage the roots of the plants.
Practice shows that wild garlic bulbs gradually go underground. The largest and oldest are at a depth of 20–25 cm. You need to dig them out very carefully so as not to damage the roots of neighboring plants. Whenever possible, the “babies” removed from the ground are unraveled by hand, cutting only where this is completely impossible. There is no point in planting bulbs without roots or with dry roots. They won't take root.
Wild garlic bulbs removed from the ground must have roots, otherwise there is no point in replanting them
The bed is prepared in advance by digging the soil deeply. In addition to humus (3–5 l/m²), nitrogen (15–20 g/m²), potassium (10–15 g/m²) and phosphorus (25–30 g/m²) fertilizers are also applied. For example, urea, simple superphosphate and potassium nitrate are suitable. There are also complex supplements containing these macroelements - Azofoska, Nitrophoska, Diammofoska.
Azofoska is a complex fertilizer containing nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium
It is not worthwhile to constantly grow wild garlic in the same place. Plants begin to hurt and wither. It is recommended to transfer the crop to a new bed every 7–8 years. A clear signal that it’s time is thinning stems, shrinking leaves and bulbs.
Cultivation care
The plant is extremely unpretentious and requires only minimal care. Particular attention should be paid to watering wild garlic. The soil in the garden bed should be constantly moderately moist, especially in the first month after transplanting to a permanent place. But you can’t overwater the plant either - the bulbs will rot and it will die.
The best option for wild garlic is frequent but moderate watering. The soil between them should dry out 4–5 cm deep. This can be easily determined by digging a small hole in the garden bed and trying to squeeze the soil into a ball. If it crumbles in your fingers, it's time to water. When the weather is cool and cloudy outside, once every 4–6 days is enough; in hot weather and during prolonged drought, the intervals between waterings are halved.
Proper watering is the main component of proper care of wild garlic.
Ideally, you need to loosen the soil after each watering. If that doesn’t work, then at least 2-3 times a month. This improves soil aeration and provides the roots with access to oxygen and nutrients. Water does not stagnate in such soil.
After the above-ground part dies, you can forget about watering. The plant will have enough natural precipitation until next spring.
Mulching a bed with wild garlic helps the gardener save time on weeding and reduce the number of waterings
Another important point is weeding. Mulching will help to significantly save time on it (as well as retain moisture in the soil by increasing the intervals between waterings). The optimal layer thickness is 3–4 cm. It will have to be renewed as necessary. The most harmful to wild garlic plantings are wheatgrass and sow thistle. These weeds have powerful roots that can easily pierce the bulbs, destroying the plant.
Wheatgrass rhizomes can seriously damage wild garlic bulbs, so weeding the beds is a must
The vegetative period of wild garlic is quite short, so it is better to give preference to natural organic fertilizers or purchased products based on vermicompost. Feed the plants with infusions and solutions every 3–4 weeks. The frequency of application of store-bought fertilizers and the concentration of the solution are determined by the instructions given in the manufacturer's instructions.
Once every two years, in the spring, to increase soil fertility, humus or rotted compost (2–3 l/m²) is incorporated into the soil during the first loosening process. You can also apply nitrogen-containing fertilizers (urea, ammonium nitrate, ammonium sulfate) in dry form or in the form of a solution (8–10 g per 1 m² or per 10 liters of water). You should not overdo it with such fertilizers. Excess nitrogen in the soil has a bad effect on plant immunity, the leaves darken, become coarser, and nitrates that are harmful to health accumulate in them. And at the end of the growing season, sifted wood ash (a glass per 1 m²) is scattered annually over the garden bed. It is a natural source of potassium and phosphorus. Dolomite flour or another substance with similar properties is added to acidic soil every 3–4 years.
Dolomite flour is a soil deoxidizer that has no side effects if the recommended dosage is followed.
To feed wild garlic, infusions are prepared from fresh cow manure, bird droppings, nettle greens, and dandelion leaves. In principle, you can use any other weeds growing on the site. A deep container is filled with raw materials about a third, topped up with water, and closed tightly. Then it is left in the sun for 3-4 days until a characteristic odor appears. Before use, the finished fertilizer is filtered and diluted with water in a ratio of 1:10 or 1:15 if droppings were used as a raw material.
Nettle infusion is an absolutely natural and completely free fertilizer.
Wild garlic overwinters, as a rule, without additional shelter, even in regions with a temperate climate. But if the winter is expected to be very harsh and at the same time with little snow, it is advisable to play it safe by covering the bed with a layer of mulch (fallen leaves, pine needles, straw) 8–10 cm thick and covering it with several layers of burlap or other covering material that allows air to pass through. As soon as enough snow falls, it is thrown on top, constructing a snowdrift. It gradually settles, so during the winter you will have to renew the structure several times.
Ramson at home
Wild garlic does not differ in size, so it can be grown at home, providing yourself with fresh, healthy herbs all year round. The height of the plant is only 20–50 cm, the leaves are narrow, 3–5 cm wide, and there are few of them in the rosette. The best time for planting is early spring. Many people believe that greens in “captivity” turn out more tender and juicier than in the garden.
If the height of the plant is not too high, the root system of wild garlic is quite powerful; the bulbs are located in the soil at a depth of about 20 cm. Therefore, the pot chosen for it is not too wide, but deep, shaped like a bucket. Preference is given to ceramic containers without a glaze coating. This material allows air to pass through better, preventing moisture from stagnating at the roots.
The pot for growing wild garlic must be deep enough
A universal soil for indoor flowers is suitable for the plant, but it is better to mix the soil yourself. Humus, leafy turf soil and coarse river sand should be taken in a ratio of 2:2:1. You cannot take turf from under coniferous trees. In nature, wild garlic never grows under them. To prevent the development of rot, for every 3 liters of prepared substrate, add a tablespoon of powdered chalk or activated carbon.
Wild garlic is undemanding when it comes to soil quality; this also applies to those specimens that are grown at home.
Both the pot and the soil must be sterilized before planting. Wash the container thoroughly and pour boiling water over it; the soil is frozen, steamed, fried in the oven, or poured with a dark purple solution of potassium permanganate.
You can plant both seeds and wild garlic bulbs at home. For the former, pre-landing preparation is required. The procedure is no different from that described above for open ground. But at home, seedlings appear much faster, in about a month.
After planting, the seeds and bulbs are sprinkled with a layer of fine sand mixed with peat chips (layer thickness - 5–7 cm). The soil in the pot is moderately moistened by spraying with a spray bottle. The container is covered with plastic film or covered with glass. The “greenhouse” is opened daily for ventilation for 8–10 minutes, preventing condensation from accumulating. The substrate is carefully loosened and moistened as it dries. As soon as the shoots appear, the pot is moved to a place where it will be provided with light partial shade and protection from direct sunlight.
There is nothing complicated about growing wild garlic at home.
In the summer, it is useful to take wild garlic out to the balcony, open veranda, or terrace. The plant reacts very positively to fresh air. Caring for it consists of regular watering and fertilizing. Any complex products for decorative foliage will be suitable. You can alternate them with natural organic matter and vermicompost-based fertilizers.
The first harvest at home is obtained after two years if wild garlic seeds are planted. From bulbs - for the next season. You shouldn’t be too zealous with cutting; the plant may not recover from the sudden loss of most of the green mass. It is recommended to have several copies at once and “cut” them one by one.
Typical plant diseases and pests
The specific smell of wild garlic and the high concentration of essential oils in the leaves repel the vast majority of pests that feed on plant juices. Perhaps the only exception is the leaf miner. The culture's immunity is also quite good. Most often, various types of rot appear, the development of which is often the fault of the gardener himself, who waters the plant too often and/or abundantly. Another possible fungal disease is leaf rust. It is most often transmitted from crops growing nearby.
The main danger to wild garlic is not the adult leafminer flies, but its larvae. They penetrate into leaf tissue and eat out “tunnels” in them, practically without coming to the surface. From the outside, it looks like semicircular bulges with a diameter of about 1 mm and a length of 1.5–2 cm. Associated symptoms are discolored areas of tissue that gradually become thinner and die, and deformed, withering leaves. This process usually happens quite quickly.
For some reason, the leafminer fly is very partial to the yellow color; this feature is used in the manufacture of homemade traps
Adults can be dealt with by hanging sticky tape near the garden bed to catch flies or homemade traps - cut-off plastic bottles filled with sugar syrup, honey or jam diluted with water, or pieces of cardboard, plywood, linoleum, smeared with the same honey, Vaseline, long-drying glue . The larvae are repelled by sprinkling the soil in the garden bed with a mixture of wood ash, tobacco chips and ground red pepper.
Miner fly larvae eat away leaf tissue from the inside
If characteristic damage is detected, insecticides are used - Aktaru, Konfidor-Maxi, Mospilan, Apache. The frequency of treatment and the concentration of the solution are determined by the instructions. You need to spray both the plants themselves and the substrate.
Rust is caused by a fungus, the pathogen of which is carried by the wind or transmitted by droplets of water. In the affected plant, the normal course of photosynthesis and metabolism is disrupted, it suffers from moisture deficiency, and the leaves gradually fall off. On the front side, depressed round-shaped red spots appear; the back side is covered with a continuous layer of “fleecy” saffron-colored coating. Gradually it changes color to rusty brown and thickens.
Leaf rust is a dangerous disease that disrupts the processes of photosynthesis and metabolism that are vital for the plant.
For prevention, in early spring the soil in the garden bed is sprayed with a 5% urea solution, and at the end of the growing season it is treated with 2% copper sulfate. During the period of active growth, once every 2–3 weeks, wild garlic is sprayed with foam of green potassium or laundry soap, a pale pink solution of potassium permanganate, soda ash or colloidal sulfur diluted in water (15–20 g per 10 l). Effective folk remedies are kefir or whey diluted 1:10 with the addition of iodine (a drop per liter). You can dilute ammonia or vinegar essence with water in the same proportion.
Control the disease with fungicides. It is advisable to choose drugs of biological origin (Ridomil-Gold, Alirin-B, Tiovit-Jet, Bayleton). More potent are Abiga-Pik, Topaz, HOM, Kuprozan. There are also products whose effectiveness has been tested by more than one generation of gardeners - Bordeaux mixture, copper sulfate.
Bordeaux mixture is a common fungicide, the effectiveness of which has been tested by more than one generation of gardeners; you can make it yourself
Gray rot in the vast majority of cases is caused by waterlogging of the soil. A grayish “dust” appears on the leaves, then brownish or beige “translucent” spots, as if watery. Gradually they turn gray and become covered with a continuous layer of “fluffy” ash-colored coating with small black inclusions. The affected tissue areas soften and die.
Most often, the gardener himself is to blame for the development of gray rot of wild garlic because he is too zealous with watering.
For prevention, plants are dusted with crushed chalk or sifted wood ash, and the soil in the garden bed is sprinkled with colloidal sulfur. Irrigation water is periodically replaced with a pale pink solution of potassium permanganate.
If the disease is not noticed in time, the plant can only be dug up and burned to eliminate the source of the infection. At an early stage, all areas of affected tissue are cut out with a disinfected razor blade or scalpel. It is necessary to capture 2–3 mm of healthy-looking ones. Most likely, the fungal spores have already spread there, it’s just that external symptoms have not yet appeared. The “wounds” are washed with 2% copper sulfate and sprinkled with activated carbon powder or cinnamon. During the next loosening, Trichodermin and Glyocladin granules are added to the soil. Instead of water, wild garlic is watered with a bright pink solution of potassium permanganate or Fitosporin-M for a month.
Potassium permanganate solution is an effective means for soil disinfection
Root rot is even more dangerous for the crop. It develops for a long time without manifesting itself in any way on the aboveground part of the plant. Then the bases of the stems soften, change color to black-brown, and become slimy to the touch. The soil becomes covered with a layer of mold, and an unpleasant putrid odor spreads. Fighting the disease at this stage is no longer possible. The plant is pulled out and burned, the soil in this place is disinfected by spilling a 5% solution of copper sulfate. Preventive measures are similar to those used to protect against gray rot.
Harvest and storage
It is almost impossible to notice the development of root rot at an early stage.
Harvest and storage
The crop is ready for harvest almost immediately after the snow melts. The highest concentration of vitamins, minerals, essential oils, phytoncides and other substances beneficial to health in wild garlic leaves is observed in April. But it should be taken into account that the earlier the greens are cut, the more time the plant needs to recover. Bulbs, on the contrary, are dug up at the end of summer, when they reach their maximum size. Arrows are also eaten. They are even more tender and juicier than the leaves. After flowering, which occurs in May, harvesting is stopped - the greenery becomes noticeably coarser.
The yield of wild garlic is very good, but you need to collect the leaves in such a way that it is not to the detriment of the plants
The rosette of wild garlic usually consists of three to five leaves. You can cut (just cut, not tear out or twist) the top two or three. The lowest leaf must remain on the plant so that it recovers faster the next year. There will be no new greenery this season. Adult specimens over the age of five can be trimmed completely. The yield of wild garlic is not bad - about 1.5 kg of green mass is obtained from 1 m². In adult plants this figure reaches 3 kg.
When fermented, the benefits of wild garlic are practically not affected.
In order to always have a harvest, it is advisable to plant wild garlic in at least three different places with an interval of one to two years. Each season, leaves will be cut from only one bed, the remaining two will have the opportunity to recover.
After flowering, wild garlic leaves are no longer cut off - at this time they are not so tender and healthy
Fresh wild garlic is most beneficial. Leaves and bulbs are added to salads. You can also use them to prepare a very tasty seasoning for meat and fish dishes by mixing them with sour cream and chili pepper. In Caucasian countries, the onions are simply eaten as a snack with bread sprinkled with salt. At room temperature, the leaves will remain fresh for 4-5 days, in the refrigerator - a week or a week and a half.
Salad with wild garlic is simply a storehouse of vitamins and microelements
The plant is very useful for humans, but wild garlic is not recommended for fattening livestock. The milk changes color to reddish-yellow, and the meat acquires an unpleasant aftertaste.
To preserve wild garlic for a long time, the leaves and bulbs are fermented, salted, and pickled. The least amount of useful substances is lost during fermentation. You can also freeze them. But wild garlic is not suitable for drying. After this procedure, it is almost completely deprived of its characteristic taste, aroma, and benefits.
Not only leaves and bulbs are eaten, but also wild garlic flower shoots.
Video: health benefits of wild garlic
Ramson is not yet particularly popular among Russian gardeners. But this is completely undeserved. In spring, this is practically the only fresh greenery, an irreplaceable source of vitamins and microelements. The plant is very unpretentious; even a gardener without any experience can cultivate wild garlic on his own plot.
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