Wild Garlic - 1g (Average 150 Quality Seeds) - Plastic Free packaging

With its fresh, garlicky smell wild garlic (Allium ursinum) is an unmistakable scent in UK woodlands and forests in the spring months. Preferring to grow in shady and damp conditions, the wild garlic season starts in late winter and lasts until the end of spring although it may be past its best by then.

Ram sons (wild garlic) is a short perennial bulb with a rounded head of star like flowers. These are white and can be seen from April to June. The stem is typically 10cm to 50cm high and is yellowish-green. The leaves are broad lanceolate in shape, bright green and glossy, however, the most distinctive feature of this plant is the strong smell of garlic it gives off when crushed.

Wild garlic has a lighter flavour to traditional bulb garlic, and the green, pointed leaves and white flowers of this bulbous perennial flowering plant are easy to identify, making it a good first foray into foraging. The leaves and flowers are edible. Young leaves are delicious added to soups, sauces and pesto. Leaves appear in March and are best picked when young. The flowers emerge from April to June and can add a potent garlic punch to salads and sandwiches.

Successful growing requires a good understanding of its natural habitat. This woodland plant of moist, well-drained, base-rich soils can also very occasionally be found in hedge banks, riversides and even rock crevices. In common with other woodland specialists ramsons puts on all its growth early in the year thereby avoiding the deep shade cast by the tree canopy in late spring and summer. Regeneration is mainly by seed which can be produced in large numbers under suitable conditions. When conditions are right ramsons will out-compete all other ground cover herbs. Although this native plant produces prodigious amounts of seed, dispersal is poor so new woodland sites are not readily colonised. As a result, ramsons has experienced a small decline mainly because of habitat loss.

Sow the seeds indoors using normal potting compost in March or sow direct outside April-June in a shady site under deciduous foliage (preferably dark enough to inhibit grass growth in high summer) in late summer or autumn. Typically, wild garlic need to be germinated at a temperature of 15 to 20C and kept moist. Plants usually take three years to flower and can become dominant on ideal sites. Although ramsons are susceptible to drought and require moist soils they are also intolerant of waterlogged conditions.

All orders are normally dispatched by the next working day. Every order over £10 receives free seeds.