Transplanting Wild Garlic - Am I too late? Any tips?

Hi all

There's tonnes of wild garlic growing locally and I want to transplant some to my garden. I have very similar sites in my garden to where it is now (stream side, shaded). I have landowner's permission.

What I wondered if whether I'm too late and this is a bad time to transplant? If so, when would be a good time?

Also, does anyone have any tips on how best to transplant?

Many thanks

 

I seem to recall it's illegal to take plants from the wild; see if there is some seed and try that.

 

Garlic don't do seed, they gave up sex a very long time ago. Are wild garlic an exception?

 

From what I read it is ok from private land where you have the land owner's permission? Also from what I've read, growing from seed can be quite difficult.

I believe so...

 

Perhaps like culinary garlic they form bulbils at the top.

I found this

• Garlic is reproduced entirely asexually and has been for millennia
• Even “seed garlic” as typically used, is a natural clone of the parent plant as it refers to garlic cloves reserved for planting
• Bulbils (topsets) are also clones of the parent plant
• The growth of bulbils crush the flowers, thus preventing formation of true garlic seed
• Asexual reproduction limits the crop as new varieties cannot be readily created by crossbreeding
• True garlic seed is possible if the plant is allowed to flower AND bulbils are plucked out

Varieties are formed by clonal variation where the clone is not fully identical to the parent and epigenetics where environmental conditions affect gene expression and modify the genetic material by methylation (mainly) these changes then propagate into the next generation and you can select for specific characteristics.

 

We were given a handful of wild garlic plants by a forager friend last year.

I planted them immediately in our communal herb plot around April time. The tops died off completely in June and did nothing for the rest of the year.

Then they made an appearance earlier this year. The growth was lush and green - the leaves were daffodil-like in shape but fleshy and with a mild garlic taste.

They flowered in March - April, flowers were white in colour and edible.

Now, they have flopped over just like normal garlic and onions when approaching harvest time.


Having made these observations, I would advise trimming off the leaves and planting just the bulbs at this time of the year - poke a hole into the soil with your finger and drop a bulb in the right way up.

 

They are Allium triquetrum as far as I can tell.

 

Agree it is Allium triquetrum you have there. Around here a pernicious weed pushing out wild garlic. Wild garlic is Allium ursinum and looks very different. Here for pictures wild garlic - Google Search
Also known as Ransoms, likes damp woodland conditions and is used as the wrapping for Garlic Yarg; which I have completely missed this year thanks to the lockdown!

 

We have the ursinums too but they have already been harvested by a few senior local residents.

It is quite gratifying to see them foraging our little wild flower border. What we see as weeds (dandelion, mallow, nettles, plantain, lamb's quarters etc), they perceive as a valuable resource.