If you want to plant wild garlic in your own garden, you don't have to pay too much attention to the care. The herb is undemanding and easy to care for. Nevertheless, here are a few tips for particularly warm days.© Wolfgang - Fotolia.com
This wild herb, which is also known as wild garlic, is considered to be a comparatively uncomplicated early bloomer in the garden. Wild garlic (Allium ursinum) is quite frugal and therefore does not require extensive maintenance. Even beginners can't go wrong when planting and growing wild garlic. However, this does not mean that no maintenance is necessary at all.
The following article reveals in detail which maintenance measures are necessary so that the herb can thrive in your own garden.
Provide adequate irrigation
Caring for wild garlic mainly focuses on watering the plant. Because the wild herb likes a moist surface very much. The plant is normally accustomed to this from its natural location, so that the same conditions should be ensured in the garden.
However, the weed really only needs to be watered if it is currently growing or if the conditions are very dry. If it is long dry in summer and the plant is not watered sufficiently, the wild garlic would otherwise run the risk of drying out completely. If you want to prevent this, it is best to water the herb, which is known for its health-promoting ingredients, in the evening or in the morning.
A location in partial shade, which wild garlic clearly prefers, can ensure that the herb can draw sufficient natural moisture from the soil for most of the time. Only when wild garlic has gotten too much heat and sun should all hobby gardeners help with a little water from the watering can.
Fertilize wild garlic
Bear garlic is also relatively undemanding when it comes to fertilizing. Hobby gardeners do not have to use a special fertilizer only for wild garlic. However, the herb is very grateful for a little foliage, which is used as mulch in the beds with wild garlic in autumn. A fairly thin layer is also sufficient to cover the plant's nutritional needs.
The leaves ensure a higher humus content of the subsoil, so that the wild garlic can thrive particularly well. Leaving the autumn leaves behind has the following advantages:
- acts as protection in winter
- natural fertilizer that does not cost the hobby gardener anything
- environmentally friendly type of fertilization without artificial additives
In many deciduous forests there are huge colonies of wild garlic. These also do without any artificial fertilizer. This is probably the best example of how wild garlic is indeed completely satisfied with a little foliage as a natural fertilizer that decomposes over time.
What to do if the ground is too acidic for wild garlic?
Only when wild garlic has been planted in a soil that is too acidic should a little more extensive maintenance be carried out so that the plant feels comfortable. In this case, the soil needs to be limed at regular intervals to change the pH of the soil in the sense of wild garlic. Then, over time, an acidic soil becomes a moderately acidic or slightly alkaline soil, as this plant likes it.
Does wild garlic need to be cut back?
There are some plants that need to be pruned not only before winter begins, but at regular intervals throughout the year. This does not include wild garlic. Cutting wild garlic is only for harvest. Pruning is not only not necessary before the onset of winter, it is also not sensible. Because wild garlic needs its leaves so that the plant can draw the necessary strength.
Keep wild garlic in check
Wild garlic is a wild herb that has the natural urge to spread like weeds in the garden. Because this herb multiplies through the so-called self-sowing. Hobby gardeners therefore hardly have to do anything to make wild garlic multiply wildly in their garden.
If you only want to use a small amount of wild garlic for home use, you should pluck and weed the herb regularly. Otherwise wild garlic will quickly take over in your own garden. Regular bed maintenance is particularly easy if the wild garlic is placed in a separate bed from the start, which has lateral boundary plates so that the herb can not overgrow underground.
Even if wild garlic has become too small in your own garden, it can make sense to remove some plants. Thinning out the wild garlic helps ensure that the remaining plants can be supplied with sufficient water and nutrients on the limited area and do not have to compete with the surrounding plants. The onions, which have been removed from a too small stock of wild garlic, can not only be used in the kitchen, but can also be transplanted to another location where they can be used again.
Protection against pests and diseases
This plant is also very robust when it comes to pests or diseases. Special care is therefore generally not necessary to protect wild garlic. After all, wild garlic plants are rarely affected by this problem.
Only the vole can be dangerous in the garden. However, voles are also a problem for many other plants in the garden, so all gardeners will want to take action against these disturbing animals anyway.