Plagued by wild garlic or ramsons (Allium ursinum) and looking for ways to get it back under control?
Wild garlic can grow and spread profusely, especially throughout the cooler months. If you have a problem with smelly wild garlic growing out of control, you’ll know that it can be a real beast to irradiate and contain – particularly at this time of year.
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Look out for long leaves, accompanied by angular white flowering stems, that will start to sprout any time from now through to June. Wild garlic can grow up to 4ft tall and, unlike most other garden weeds, wild garlic weeds cannot be so easily controlled by simply spraying or pulling them up. This is because wild garlic spreads by the production of underground bulbs, meaning so much of the growth is happening beneath the foliage, where you can’t see it.
Have you ever had to deal with wild garlic in your garden? Comment below and let us know what you did about it!
Tips for getting rid of garlic
Chemical-free
control is the best bet for ridding wild garlic infested garden beds,
as the use of suitable weed-killer risks harming other bulbous plants in
the vicinity.Cultivate the soil during dry conditions – early winter is perfect for this as you can get to the root of the problem before it really takes hold. Cultivating at such a critical moment in your wild garlic’s growth means you stand a much better chance of weakening the bulbs and preventing their spread. This should make wild garlic easier to dig up and remove in spring. Speaking of which…
On loose or light soils, dig out all signs of wild garlic (leaves and bulbs) and dispose of them entirely – do not add to the compost heap. The bulbs form in clumps and can be quite deep under the soil so it’s best to make this a very thorough job to avoid having to repeat it at a later date. If you have a real and persistent problem, you may find it advantageous to sieve the soil to make sure all traces of bulbs are removed.
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Never
attempt to dig an infected wild garlic area between August and October
as this is a spell of latency for wild garlic bulbs and, whilst your
wild garlic won’t be as visible or easy to remove, it will further
spread the bulbs whilst they lay in wait.Find out out to keep rats out of the garden
Once your wild garlic is removed, do not be tempted to dump it into the compost bin. The wild garlic bulbs can lay dormant for anything up to six years so you’ll actually be giving them the perfect growing conditions before spreading them throughout the rest of your garden.
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