Should I plant ramsons (allium ursinum)?

[chrisdb]

I quite liked the idea of having my own patch (to avoid the ethical issues of "scavenging" them) as an early spring garlic substitute and ground cover in a shady corner of the garden, but until this year I never managed to get any. I tried for a few years to grow them from seed, but never had much luck, probably because of the time and repeated winters needed to break the dormancy of the seed. So in the end I ordered a couple of bulbs from a reputable online supplier and put them in a pot, and they now appear to be sprouting.

Only.. now I've got them, I'm not sure of the wisdom of planting them. I'm not too bothered personally by the strong garlic smell, and I also don't mind low-growing spreading plants, since I'd rather have something low-growing and useful than the weeds that I'd otherwise be pulling up all the time. But the thought has occurred that maybe the neighbours might not appreciate an aggressively spreading garlic smelling ground-cover as much as I would, even if it's only there between early Spring and early Summer.

Another option might be to plant them in a different location more towards the centre of the garden with a path or two in the way of the boundary, to minimise risk of spreading. Maybe on the shady north-ish side of the garage? But I don't really know whether they can successfully self-seed at a distance, or will confine themselves to spreading locally as an expanding clump.

Does anyone have wild garlic growing in their garden? At least one person seems to be growing ramsons on an allotment:

https://scottishforestgarden.wordpre...g-wild-garlic/

[roitelet]

If it takes off you could find it invasive!

[chrisdb]

If it takes off you could find it invasive!

The shady corner I was thinking of is already a battleground between various low-growing weeds like ground elder, with me occasionally trying to knock them back a bit. I'd regard replacing ground elder with wild garlic as a win, if the wild garlic could out-compete it or at least suppress it a bit for some of the year. Supposedly the Romans used to snack on ground-elder, but the smell is too bad for me to even try it.

The main problem with that corner though is that it's a hedge away from the neighbours' garden, which is why I'm having second thoughts. There are other spots a bit further away from a boundary that I could put it, but they're drier and also have a higher value as far as other plants are concerned.

[WendyC]

My neighbour one side has an ornamental dead nettle that I am continually pulling up and the other side has ivy taking over my fence. I'd be well pi$$ed off if either planted wild garlic too.

[Alison]

I have a clump at my lottie under an apple tree. It us spreading but not excessively and is still basically in the same place. Personally it wouldn't bother me if it came from next door the ivy I get under the fence is far more annoying and I find the smell quite pleasant, nowhere near the strength of garlic bread

[Alison]

My neighbour one side has an ornamental dead nettle that I am continually pulling up and the other side has ivy taking over my fence. I'd be well pi$$ed off if either planted wild garlic too.

Really? I'm surprised as I would put wild garlic much lower in the annoyance league than ivy which is properly invasive.

[HoneyChild]

What about planting them in a bottomless pot which you then plant in the ground? I've heard you can do that to contain mint which also spreads easily. Nerver tried it myself.

[chrisdb]

What about planting them in a bottomless pot which you then plant in the ground? I've heard you can do that to contain mint which also spreads easily. Nerver tried it myself.

This is one thing I'm not sure about - how wild garlic spreads. I'm pretty sure it doesn't do it via rhizomes, like mint or weeds such as ground elder. There are really two options:

(1) an expanding clump of bulbs (common in the allium family - this is what my Welsh onions do for example) - in this case a barrier in the soil will likely work to prevent spread

(2) self-seeding - certainly wild garlic does produce fertile seed, which will defeat a soil barrier. The question here is whether the seed is likely to go far like dandelion seed, or fall locally. If locally, then it makes it less invasive across long-distances and instead produces more clumping behaviour

I am sure wild garlic does (2), but I don't know if it does (1) like many other alliums do, and what the balance between the two is in terms of success, or if self-seeding is the dominant strategy how far the seeds tend to move before growing into plants.

[WendyC]

Really? I'm surprised as I would put wild garlic much lower in the annoyance league than ivy which is properly invasive.

Trouble is once you've got it, you've got it. Only hypothetical anyway as I'm pretty sure I don't live next door to Chris!

[chrisdb]

Trouble is once you've got it, you've got it. Only hypothetical anyway as I'm pretty sure I don't live next door to Chris!

I wish my garden did stretch all the way from Nottingham to East Sussex, but unfortunately no.