Allium ursinum - Wild Garlic - Seeds

Description

• Amaryllidaceae Asparagales
• Eurasia
• H 0.3 m x L 0.3 m
•  Z4 
• Perennial
• Synonyms : Ramsons, Wild Cowleek, Cowlic, Buckrams, Broad-leaved Garlic, Wood Garlic, Bear Leek, Bear's Garlic
• 1 packet of 15 seeds

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Details

Wild Garlic is a medium-sized perennial, growing in woodland and moist shady areas where it forms dense, large colonies

Bear's Garlic is in vegetation for only a few months of the year, from March to June

Its foliage grows each year in March from a small bulb, followed by a beautiful white bloom in May, decorative, melliferous and very attractive to bees, with starry flowers grouped in spherical umbels more or less dense according to the age and vigor of the plant, carried quite high above the foliage

Wild garlic seeds ripen in June and fall on the ground at the beginning of summer, at the same time as the leaves wither (which frees up space that can be used for other summer and autumn flowers)

The plant has then completed its annual cycle and remains dormant as a bulb until the following spring

The leaves of Bear's Garlic are large, with a pretty fresh green color, lanceolate, and tender

They are used in cooking as an aromatic, most often raw and chopped

It is an ephemeral seasonal product, much appreciated for its garlicky aroma, which is much lighter than that of garlic, and highly regarded by chefs

Wild Garlic is also a medicinal plant with many medicinal properties: Anthelmintic, Antiasthma, Anticholesterolemic, Antipyretic, Antiseptic, Antispasmodic, Astringent, Cholagogue, Depurative, Diaphoretic, Disinfectant, Diuretic, Expectorant, Hypotensive, Rubefacient, Stimulant, Stomachic, Tonic, and Vasodilator

Unfortunately, Wood Garlic is becoming dangerously rare in the wild due to unreasonable harvesting, which is why we offer it for cultivation

Moreover, it is better to cultivate this plant than to harvest it in the natural environment, because of the risk of confusion with the colchicum leaf, the consumption of which is fatal (several proven cases - see for instance : DOI: 10.1080/15563650.2020.1832234 )

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Cultivation

Sow in February, March and April directly in the final location, spreading the seeds on the soil and burying them very lightly by scratching

Choose a place which will be, in May and June, bright but protected from direct sun during the warm hours of the day, with a permanently cool soil - always moist but well drained

First flowers will bloom 1 to 2 years after sowing

Let the seeds rippen and fall on the ground: A dense colony of Bear's Garlic will naturally establish itself after a few years, for your greatest satisfaction

Harvesting

First harvest of the leaves 1 year after sowing

Harvesting will continue each year in spring

The bulb can be eaten, but it is very small, and therefore of little interest