Thinking Ahead: Next Year at This Time, I Want Ramps

Thinking Ahead: Next Year at This Time, I Want Ramps

In response to a question in another thread about procuring ramps I did a little research and found fresh ramps, bulbs and seeds available by mail order.

It is, of course, too late to plant ramps this year, but I’m thinking of finding a little shady patch in my yard (otherwise probably unsuitable for much gardening) and put in some ramp seed there this coming autumn in hopes of seeing some baby plants next year around this time. From what I understand from the ramp growing cycle, they need to go in when the ground is not frozen, but when the ground is warm enough to break root dormancy and then cold enough to stop the plant from actually trying to grow up and become edible right then and there.

There are a lot of good reasons to plant ramps. They would likely be the first edible green things to emerge in my garden; they require little care and actually prefer shadier spots (a rarity for most green things), and no plant whispers Chicago like this stinky onion.

I think I have discovered some ramps growing in a undisclosed location on my property. I'll have to gather some photographic evidence and post here to get an oficial opinion on whethere these are ramps or not. I'm not sure. They might just be green onions, although it's a little early for those to sprout, no?

My understanding from the Spences a few years back was that ramps didn't take well to cultivation. I'll be interested to know your experience.

Aaron Deacon wrote:My understanding from the Spences a few years back was that ramps didn't take well to cultivation. I'll be interested to know your experience.

I know the Spences go a-hunting for ramps in the forested area behind their farm, but a packet of seeds is relatively cheap so I thought I'd give it a shot. For the area where I plan to plant the ramps, I probably would not amend the soil or, of course, fertilize it in any way -- I'd try to simulate "natural" conditions and thus perhaps encourage growth of this wild weed.

I grow winter onions, an onion that doesn't bulb and returns every year. They are decended from plants that grew in my great-grandfather's garden and probably originated in Denmark. I've seen the same plant in gardens in Germany, near the Danish border.

Anyway...the point is that I've been harvesting them for nearly 2 weeks already. So I suspect that they are a cultivated cousin to ramps and that a) if they're sprouting, ramps might be also and b) if you can't get ramps to grow, these may be reasonably substituted and may satisfy your green thumb.

Diannie wrote:I grow winter onions, an onion that doesn't bulb and returns every year. They are decended from plants that grew in my great-grandfather's garden and probably originated in Denmark. I've seen the same plant in gardens in Germany, near the Danish border.

Anyway...the point is that I've been harvesting them for nearly 2 weeks already. So I suspect that they are a cultivated cousin to ramps and that a) if they're sprouting, ramps might be also and b) if you can't get ramps to grow, these may be reasonably substituted and may satisfy your green thumb.

I think it's so cool that you have been the beneficiary of very plants grown so long ago by your ancestors -- true heirlooms.

Ramps are definitely out there now -- in fact, my guess is that the window is closing on this year's crop.

I have a feeling that what I have growing in my back y...er undisclosed location might be some winter onions such as Diannie has just described. Here's what they look like above ground.



I tried to pull one up to get a shot of what the root end looks like, but it's too wet and muddy and the leaves break off before I can pull the whole root from the ground. The thing that I noticed is that the leaves don't seem to be quite as broad as the pictures of ramps that I have seen, and there's none of the telltale red coloring on the leaves that I've read about in nearly every ramp description that I have found. The leaves themselves taste decidedly of garlic/chives.

Steve, my experience with digging and eating ramps is limited, but what you have there doesn't look like ramps to me.

Yeah. I'm going with winter onions. They fit the description perfectly. Those come back every year, seemingly out of nowhere.

I have similar plants in my backyard - I'm guessing you have garlic. See if scapes develop in the next few weeks. I think I read somewhere (don't ask me where) that onions have round leaves, like chives; garlic has flat leaves.

nr706 wrote:I have similar plants in my backyard - I'm guessing you have garlic. See if scapes develop in the next few weeks. I think I read somewhere (don't ask me where) that onions have round leaves, like chives; garlic has flat leaves.

That could be. Come to think of it, they do develop scapes, but I think I remember them coming out later in the year.

HI,

This is what ramps look like.



Your plant is definitely not ramps.

stevez--

Do you do anything with your plant, whatever it is? I mean, cook with it? chew on it? make poultices? etc. It looks like it might be fun to play with.

In any case, if that plant were irises or something like that, I'd reckon that it needed divided. Have you ever tried that with it? or plant out the scapes?

Fun stuff!

Montréal is having a very cold Spring onset, and my chives are only a couple of inches out of the ground. Not the least sign of my fiddleheads. Bad for the perennials, this weather, but *very* good for the maple sugaring. 'Bout time, since the last two seasons were way short.

Hammond, good luck with your seeds! Pls keep us posted on your progress (or lack of same). Here's a nice article re: cultivating them. Ramps are endangered in Québec and harvesting in the wild is forbidden.

Geo

Geo wrote:stevez--

Do you do anything with your plant, whatever it is? I mean, cook with it? chew on it? make poultices? etc. It looks like it might be fun to play with.

In any case, if that plant were irises or something like that, I'd reckon that it needed divided. Have you ever tried that with it? or plant out the scapes?

I haven't done anyting with this plant at all. I only noticed it for the first time last fall. It's not somehting I planted and it is mixed in with The Chow Poodle's flowers. Last summer was the first time I even noticed it was someting I could eat. I will be cooking with it soon.

Definitely not a winter onion. Winter onions look like the scallions one buys at the grocery with round fleshier leaves than the plant you photographed. The above ground part of your plant resembles garlic. Try biting a leaf, it should taste garlic-y. My garlic has all sprouted and does look like that plant.

If you want to purchase winter onion sets, look for Egyption or Walking onions. I've seen them listed in with Seed Savers Exchange.

Oh, and I have rhubarb from the same great-grandfather's garden too.

Yes. I think garlic is the verdict. The leaves taste very garlicky (with an onion back note) and are quite tasty, BTW. Does anyone have hints on how I should care for this wild garlic? Should I divide it like Geo suggests? When do I harvest? Anything special I need to know to get the most out of my plants?

You can use the leaves like chives

You can wait a while and it will form scapes

If you leave a few scapes in place, they'll form bulbils. Once the stalks dry, in late summer you can separate the bulbils and plant them to get garlic next year. If we have a wet fall, some might sprout this year and you'll have a second crop of garlic "chives"

At roughly the same time, the leaves will dry out and die back. Then you can dig up the head. Separate the cloves and plant them to get a crop next year. Or use them in your kitchen.

Umm, guys

You should NEVER, EVER try to identify a plant by tasting it. There are lots of plants out there that will knock you on your ass from a very small dose. It's one of the reasons I switched over to mushrooms -- they're (ironically) much less dangerous.

For information on the bullet you have dodged in this particular case, google "Death Camass" or read some of the articles on it in wikipedia. One frequently reads that it looks a lot like an onion/ramp/garlic, but can be distinguished by not having any of the onion/garlic taste. Unfortunately, with this particular plant, once you realize that it doesn't have the taste you want, you can already be in serious trouble.

Bottom line: when you're eating a plant, you're eating its body. Anything besides a fruit (which is what a mushroom is) is something that it doesn't want you to eat, so they've developed lots of nasty chemicals to deter would-be consumers. I mean, seriously, if someone posted here that a mushroom had come up in their backyard and it looked like a porcini so they tasted a piece of it to find out, you would think they were nuts, right? You have to give plants the same level of respect. We don't want to bury you with a tombstone that says "Poor Steve. He really loved his ramps; especially the really mild-tasting ones..."

Oh-oh, that's a nasty one, tnx for the head's up! And it's in Eastern Kansas. But it doesn't taste/smell like garlic or onions so I think that Our Guy Steve dodged this particular bullet.

Geo

good point. Referencing a plant ID book (or a search tab on line) is always a good idea.

Good point, Diannie.

Refs:

Here's for Kansas. And here's for Wiki which has further refs.

Geo

What stevez has looks exactly like what happens when one buries (or misses harvesting) a head of garlic. We have one in our garden now. Because each of the stems will be trying to produce a head of garlic in very congested conditions, none of the heads will amount to much. I suggest separating out some stems with a narrow trowel when the soil has a suitable moisture content, not too wet or dry. Green garlic makes good eating. I put some sprouting cloves in a planter box in our sun room in late winter, so we had weeks of green garlic until early spring. The tops have died down now, but there are very small garlic bulbs in the box. Cutting all those tops back repeatedly makes for very puny bulb formation.

Stiff-neck garlic produces scapes in late May or June. Scapes should be removed to get good bulbs as some of the plant's energy is diverted into producing bulbils. Bulbils can be planted but normally take two years to produce usable garlic. The first year produces a single clove, which will grow into a head the second year.

stevez wrote:Yes. I think garlic is the verdict. The leaves taste very garlicky (with an onion back note) and are quite tasty, BTW. Does anyone have hints on how I should care for this wild garlic? Should I divide it like Geo suggests? When do I harvest? Anything special I need to know to get the most out of my plants?

Update: It's garlic for sure. The plant has now sprouted scapes with little garlic bulbs at the end (Diannie called them "bulbils"). I'm going to wait for the leaves to start to dry out, then harvest the bulbs. I'll also plant the bulbils for next year.