I noticed some Ramsons or wild garlic growing in the polytunnel and in flower yesterday. I don't know how it got there but it seems happy enough growing amongst the Japanese winter onions.
Apparently there is archeological evidence that we have been collecting it and eating it for the last thousand years or so.
You can eat it and the European brown bear is very fond of Ramsons. So are cows and it's also called cow leek.
I have read that in Switzerland they use to make butter with the milk that the cows had ate wild garlic.
Ramsons usually lives in woodlands and damp meadows.
Usually it is in flower in April outside. Ours in flower now in March.
Are you sure that is wild garlic? I think it's the wild onion leek. Very similar in flower but the leaves are grass like and triangular in profile. The wild garlic leaf is more a long oval.
ReplyDeleteIt's all edible just the same. Enjoy !
Tish x
Are you sure Anonymous? I think wild onion leek grows in America and not in Ireland. It definitely smells of garlic.
DeleteHi Northsider That's wild onion leek, not ramsons. The leaves are different and it flowers sooner.Still safe to eat though.
ReplyDeleteBella Jane.
Thanks Bella Jane. I think it is wild garlic and its bulbs are like cultivated garlic. We will see what others think. Thanks for your comment.
ReplyDeleteHi again Northsider, I am pretty sure I am right and it looks just like the stuff that my garden was covered in when I moved here. I live in cambridgeshire. It was a local man who is a forager who told me what it was. The flowers are identical to wood garlic and it has the garlic type bulb , It's still just as good to eat though.
ReplyDeleteTish x
I bow to your knowledge Tish. I would love to meet a forager and go on a walk foraging with them. Thanks again.
ReplyDeleteI would love to join you on that walk Northsider. Nothing better than a free meal !
ReplyDeleteTish x
Definitely Tish. I remember going on a walk with my friend and his Ukraine father many moons ago. His father started picking hawthorn berries and eating them. I asked him if they were poisonous and he said anything a bird can eat you can eat. I suppose the birds are natural foragers. There are so many wild plants that have both culinary and medicinal uses. Nettles have many uses. During ww2 army uniforms were made of thenrttle fibres. I often make a garden tea with them for a natural and organic garden fertilizer.
ReplyDeleteWell I had never heard the word "ramsons" until this morning. I prefer to use the Latin - allium ursinum when I spot a display of wild garlic but that's just because I am a clever-dick.
ReplyDeleteWild Garlic is up and growing here too..quite early
ReplyDeleteI am impressed YP. We're having roast beef, Yorkshire Puddings and Solanum Tuberosums for tea.
ReplyDeleteYes Spring is definitely on the way GZ. At long last. Thanks.
DeleteWill you also be having some tasty brassica oleracea in a delicious caseus sauce?
DeleteSpring is actually happening far earlier... although the cold and wet has made winter seem to drag on
DeleteSame here. Weeds are appearing, birds are collecting grass and twigs and there are very high Spring tides forecast for here later today and possible flooding. The last two winters have been very wet. Hopefully the weather will perk up?
DeleteYes Kale. My Pisum Sativums are sprouting in the polytunnel this morning.
ReplyDeleteI thought that Pisum Sativums meant having a wild wee-wee - rather than doing it in a toilet like a civilised human being - homino civilus.
DeleteThey are also Legumes. No relation to the big toe. They collect nitrogen out of the air and release it through their root nodules. Legumes actually put goodness back into the soil. Other crops exhaust the soil and we have to replenish it with natural fertilizers and green manures. Carrots and other root crops can follow peas. Stan Boardman said the Germans attacked his Grandad's allotment and all his peas got shelled!
DeleteI'm wondering if we get wild garlic here and I just don't recognise it. The flowers look familiar. I did used to have a pot of garlic chives which also look like wild garlic. I'll keep an eye out
ReplyDeleteI Googled wild garlic growing in Greece Linda and I saw some growing in Zagori. It is native to Europe. You should smell it if you walk near it. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteThanks Dave. I could have done the same.....lazy lol
DeleteZagori is north of us. Colder but still out climate should be fine for it
Greece and your Greek Islands are on my bucket list to visit Linda. I always find it interesting to see what grows where and the etymology of plants and vegetables in particular.
ReplyDeleteI don't think I have ever seen any wild garlic here but I'll keep an eye out.
ReplyDeleteHi River. According to Professor Google there is wild (Crow garlic) in Australia. Garlic originates in the middle east especially Iran.
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