Wild Garlic is a delicious, healthy and versatile herb. Wild Garlic is also known as ramsons, buckrams, broad-leaved garlic, wood garlic, bear leek and bear's garlic. It's in the Netherlands an endangered species and it is forbidden to harvest this plant in the wild. This cold germinator, fast growing plant has a very strong and spicy onion-like flavour and this prevent us from overeating. It's a family member of chives and all onion varieties. In the natural medicine Wild Garlic is used to cleanse the collon, liver, stomach, gall and the blood. Is has also hypotensive qualities. Use small amounts, because to much use can poison you. Wild Garlic was formerly used a lot in the spring to compensate the lack of fresh herbs and vegetables during the winter and to help against the spring lassitude.
Wild Garlic is very healthy and versatile. Wild Garlic contains a.o.: a large volume of vitamin C. And the minerals iron, magnesium, manganese and iodine. It also contains sulphur compounds, enzymes, saponins, fruit sugar and antibiotic substances. Wild Garlic is also used in the kitchen in combination with eggs, cheese, pork, potatoes, beef, chicken and butter. Wild Garlic is also used a lot in sauces, stews, stir-frys, casseroles, soups, salads and in herb butter. It's also used finely chopped and mixed through salads. To prevent loss of flavour, you should add Wild Garlic to dishes after cooking. So don't cook Wild Garlic in your dishes. Use wild garlic in moderation because too many use can lead to poisoning. Wild Garlic originates from Europe and Asia. It is a rare and protected herbal plant in Netherlands and it's not allowed to pick Wild Garlic in nature. Hardy annual. Height: 30 cm.
Outdoor sowing: February - April
Germination: 12 - 14 weeks
Germination temp. : look at text below
Sowing depth: ½ - 1 cm
Planting distance: 30 cm
Planting position: half shade
Harvest period: April - May
You can sow indoors from February on. Sow in trays filled with moist potting soil. Wild Garlic is a cold germinator and it can germinate quite irregular and it takes a lot of time before it germinates. Sow sparingly and cover the seeds with a thin layer of potting soil. Put the seeds in a dark room at a even temperature of 18 - 22 °C for about 2 - 4 weeks. Keep the seeds moist.
After this warm period the seeds need a cold period of about 4 - 6 weeks, but maybe longer. Keep the seeds on a even temperature between -4 - + 4. It can be usefull to cover the seeds, during this period, with a layer of snow, because melting snow gives a constant cooling effect and it can let the seeds soften a bit and it can help with the tearing down of the harder outside skin of the seeds.
After this colder period the seeds need a period with an even temperature of about 5 - 12 °C . During this time the seeds will germinate. Put the seedlings outdoors, when they're large enough to handle. Put them outdoors in a spot with half shade. Harvest the Wild Garlic by cutting the leaves with sciccors to about 3 cm of the soil. Wild Garlic is sensitive to the disease "rust".
Be careful: the leaves of wild garlic resemble the leaves of the very poisonous leaves of the lily-of-the-valley. The difference is that the leaves of wild garlic smell like garlic.
