Know your Field Garlic

Know your Field Garlic - Introduction

    • Field garlic (Allium oleraceum) is a bulbous perennial that grows wild in dry places in northern Europe, reaching 80cm in height.

    • It reproduces by seed, bulbs and by the production of small bulblets in the flower head (similarly to the Wild OnionAllium vineale).

    • Unlike A. vineale however, it is very rare with Field garlic to find flower-heads containing bulbils only.

    • In addition, the spathe in Field garlic is in two parts.

Know your Field Garlic - Botany

    • Growing form: Perennial herb.

    • Height: 25–75 cm (10–30 in.). Stem oval, upper half leafless.

    • Flower: Long-stalked, often pendent, regular, bell-shaped, 4–5 mm wide. Tepals six, free, pale violet to brownish. Stamens six. Pistil of three fused carpels, ovary trilocular. Inflorescence a lax umbel with dark bulbils present between flowers. Umbel enclosed in bud within two long-beaked membranous bracts.

    • Leaves: Long and narrow (width 3–5 mm, 0.1–0.2 in.), almost thread-like, channelled. Base of leaf sheathing, stem-enclosing. Leaves wither soon.

    • Fruit: A capsule. Seeds though rarely produced.

    • Habitat: Rock outcrops, grassy hillsides, coppices.

    • Flowering time: July–August.

    • The umbel of the field garlic consists not only of a few long-stalked flowers but also of unstalked bulbils. They detach themselves, fall to the ground, and develop into new individuals. Seeds are rarely produced.

Know your Field Garlic - Distribution

  • Field garlic is native to temperate Eurasia.

  • It is native to Britain and is found in dry, grassy places, usually steeply sloping and calcareous soils, and on open sunny banks in river floodplains.

  • It favours altitudes of 0-365m.

  • A. oleraceum is scattered throughout England and very scattered in Wales, Scotland and Ireland.

  • Erosion of coastal areas leads to a reduction in the available habitat for this species, leading to population declines.

Know your Field Garlic - Position and Soil

    • This plant prefers partial or full exposure to sunlight.

    • Field Garlic tends to grow in slightly moist, heavy clay-like soil, although it will grow just fine in other soils.

    • This plant spreads quickly, much like a weed, and can be difficult to get rid of.

Know your Field Garlic - Cultivation

    • An easily grown plant, it prefers a sunny position in a light well-drained soil.

    • The bulbs should be planted fairly deeply.

    • Seed is rarely if ever produced in Britain.

    • The plant usually produces many small bulbils in the flowering head and these can spread themselves freely around the garden.

    • Grows well with most plants, especially roses, carrots, beet and chamomile, but it inhibits the growth of legumes.

    • This plant is a bad companion for alfalfa, each species negatively affecting the other.

    • Members of this genus are rarely if ever troubled by browsing deer.