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When can I sow my wild garlic seeds?
QI have collected some seeds from wild garlic, and to increase my stock and save myself some money I want to sow them but am not too sure how and when to get the best results. Can you help?
Michael Moulding, Ashton-in-Makerfield, Greater Manchester
AWild garlic seeds should be sown in autumn, ideally outside where they are to flower. They should be sown onto prepared soil and lightly covered by raking them in (they germinate best if close to the soil surface).
Germination will occur the following spring and, once established, plants will readily self-seed.
If you wanted to manage the plants more closely then I would suggest the next best thing is to sow them in autumn on the surface of a tray of John Innes seed compost. Then put the tray in a coldframe for the winter where you can give it some protection if conditions are extremely cold, but otherwise the seeds will be subject to normal winter conditions and will be fine.
When the seedlings are large enough to handle the following spring, prick them out into small pots (multiple seedlings to a pot) and grow them on for a year before planting the clumps of
