Saturday 16 April 2022


 I will go in search of Wild Garlic aka Ramsons in the next week or two. Allium ursinum can be prolific in wet woods, damp hedgerows and shady stream banks. In fact they are not hard to grow in a garden as long as you have shade and a moist soil.  
 Failing that they grow well in containers, watering as needs be. The ones above for example I planted in a large square china sink (now invisible under the mass of greenery). They grow fine in big pots too. They are best planted as bulbs in autumn but need to be purchased when freshly lifted. They do not respond well to drying out during a period of storage. 
 A. ursinum lives up to the name of Wild Garlic. I know a valley in Dorset where they are plentiful and pungent; the whole valley reeks in late spring/early summer! Foragers seek out Ramsons and that is something of a mixed blessing. 
 There is no harm in picking a few leaves for personal use where they grow in quantity. Unfortunately I read reports of "professional" foragers stripping swathes of them to sell to the restaurant trade, farmer's markets etc. 
 As I say A. ursinum is an easy enough species to cultivate and I would suggest that is the way to go if someone wishes to make money by treating it as a commodity.