Wild garlic: where it grows, how to plant and recognise it

Wild garlic (Allium ursinum) is a native bulbous plant, 20 to 40 centimetres tall. In spring it forms a carpet of broad green leaves that smell of garlic. White star-shaped flowers rise above them from April to June. Wild garlic needs moist soil rich in humus, in partial shade or shade.

Wild garlic at a glance

Leaf

February to June

Flower

April to June

Fruit

June

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

How do I recognise wild garlic?

Look at the leaves first. A plant usually has two of them, rising straight from the ground. Each leaf is a long oval, 3 to 5 centimetres wide, with a pointed tip. The veins run side by side along its length. Every leaf has a stalk of its own, 5 to 15 centimetres long. A crushed leaf smells clearly of garlic.

The flowers sit on a leafless stem with three sides, sometimes half round. At the top is a loose, rounded cluster of small white stars. Each flower has six white petals and is 1.2 to 2 centimetres across. Seed capsules with black-brown seeds follow.

Take note of lily of the valley (Convallaria majalis) and meadow saffron (Colchicum autumnale). At first sight their leaves look very like those of wild garlic, and both plants are poisonous. The smell helps, but on its own it cannot settle a doubt. So look at the base of the leaf as well. On wild garlic each leaf grows separately, on its own stalk. Lily of the valley has two leaf stalks wrapped around each other, so they look like one stem. Meadow saffron holds its leaves around one thick stem, a little like a leek. In spring its seed capsule comes up together with those leaves. Flowers show the difference too: lily of the valley has bells, wild garlic open stars.

Where does wild garlic grow best?

Wild garlic likes a shady spot, for example under trees or at the foot of a hedge. Partial shade means the sun reaches the spot for 3 to 6 hours a day around midsummer. The soil should be moist to fairly wet and rich in humus. In the wild the plant grows in deciduous woodland, scrub and hedges, mostly on loam or clay.

Wild garlic does poorly in these places:

• On dry sand. Wild garlic needs soil that stays moist and holds plenty of humus. Dry sand does not keep that moisture.
• Among perennials in a border. Wild garlic spreads by seed and by small bulbs underground. Ants carry the seed off, so young plants come up all over the border.
• Beside the terrace, where you want green all summer. By summer the leaves turn yellow and die back.

In winter wild garlic shows nothing above ground. The plant is then a bulb in the soil. The first leaves appear in February or March.

MayJanuaryThe same border in May and in January. This is a generated image, not a photograph.

Put the plant on the drawing of your own garden in the app to see whether wild garlic has room under your shrubs. The app draws the plant at a grown plant's width, not at pot size.

Planting and care

You can buy wild garlic as loose bulbs or as small plants in a pot. Bulbs are the cheapest, but they dry out fast. So plant them as soon as possible. Autumn is the time, from August to December. February and March work too, once the plant already has leaves.

A loose bulb is not yet full-grown and first makes a small plant. That is why the bulbs go in close together: about 6 centimetres deep and 10 centimetres apart. Plants from a pot get more room, 9 to 12 per square metre. On planting day that looks bare. Wild garlic spreads quickly, so the gaps close by themselves. Keep the soil moist in spring, especially in a dry month.

Sowing is possible as well, but it takes patience. The seed needs a warm spell first and then a cold one before it germinates.

No pruning is needed.

Wild garlic problems and what to do

Nothing comes up. Loose bulbs are sensitive to drying out. Buy them fresh and plant them straight away. After sowing, wait: the seed germinates only after one to two years, sometimes later.

The leaves turn yellow and collapse in June. That is normal: the plant is withdrawing into its bulb. There is nothing you need to do.

Small tunnels run through the leaves. These are mines made by the larvae of a small hoverfly, Cheilosia fasciata. The mines show best in late April and early May. There is no need to control them.

Wild garlic pops up everywhere. Lift young plants with a hand fork, small bulbs and all. Most bulbs sit in the top 20 centimetres of soil. Dig out a large clump whole.

Which insects and birds use wild garlic?

Two hoverflies depend on wild garlic: Cheilosia fasciata and the ramsons hoverfly (Portevinia maculata), named after ramsons, another English name for the plant. Both are fairly inconspicuous black flies. The larvae of the ramsons hoverfly live hidden in the small bulbs underground. Those of Cheilosia fasciata live in the leaves.

No fixed link between wild garlic and any particular bird species has been described.

Is wild garlic poisonous or edible?

Wild garlic is mildly poisonous to dogs and cats. Allium species contain sulphur compounds that can cause anaemia in these animals. That happens mainly after they eat large amounts.

For people the young leaf is edible. People have long used it in soup and salad. The long, oval bulbs sometimes serve as a substitute for garlic. Lily of the valley and meadow saffron have similar leaves, and those two are poisonous.