Please help. Wild Garlic problem

Hello all.

We are new to the forum and gardening and think you can help.

We have just moved into a house with a garden full of flowering wild garlic and was wandering if all the stuff growing above ground can be composted ok. I have been able to find out that the bulbs are only ok if you have a realy hot compost heap. We wont have so have read that they will have to be fetched out.

If it can be composted is it advisable to use some of the compost accelerator to get things moving, as there is a fair ammount of this stuff.

Our aim is to start growing our own veg so any advice on how to get the ground in good shape will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks. Steve

 

You could compost the leaves, or, you could use them in your cooking (if you're certain it is wild garlic).

The leaves make a delicious addition to salads, or can be used in soup or any dish that lends its self to the addition of normal garlic, but where you'd like a more delicate, fresher flavour.

As for the bulbs, if you do pull them out, it would be a shame to compost them. Send them my way and I'll find a nice new home for them if you don't want them.

 

I'd agree, shame to waste them, let the leaves die back, dig up and ripen the bulbs in the sun & you are sorted for garlic for the year.

If you don't like garlic then i'm sure you could flog them on a roadside stall.

If you really want to compost the leaves then run them thru a mower with some grass cuttings too, should start to break down quickly like that.

 

Thanks for your advice. Ill compost the tops and dry the bulbs and put them on Freecycle for someone who wants them. Cheers

 

You can eat the bulbs as well

 

I'd be happy to have some of the garlic bulbs off you. It's not every day that you can have wild garlic in your garden.
:-)

 

Ok. Once I have dug them all up [appart for some for me] ill put a notice on here and come to a arrangement for postage and you and others are welcome to them.

Do you think it would be a good, fast way to turn them out using a rotorvator and then go through the soil and collect them all up?
Can I do this now/soon or do I have to wait till they die off?

Cheers

 

When you're ready, give us a shout on here, I'm happy to pay postage and packing costs for some bulbs.

I think a rotovator will just mince it all up though.

Wild garlic thrives in damp ground, so I guess your patch will be moist and easy to work, so the old fashioned way should do the trick. If you're anywhere near me, give me a shout and I'll give you a hand digging them out.