Not Garlic

[igenlode]

It turns out my resurrected garlic... is not garlic! No wonder the ends of the leaves didn't taste of garlic when I trimmed them...

Presumably this is the outcome of the tiny mystery bulb that I found clinging to a second-hand flower-pot the year before last, and which produced some weedy foliage and then appeared to die off altogether -- it was about the size of those little bulbils when I got it.
I suspect this may be grape hyacinth, which is apparently pretty invasive. https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/bulbs/grape-hyacinth/grape-hyacinth-control.htm

At any rate, having carefully split the bulbs, I now have rather a lot of it! And since the narcissi are doing much better than expected, I shall have an embarrassment of bulbs.


The bonsai silver birch that I really thought had died back is now suddenly splitting open its apparently withered buds to show healthy green underneath, even if the ends of some of those branches have definitely gone...

NB the linseed is germinating happily. The superannuated mustard and cress (supposedly 'ready to eat within seven days') is actually producing a few weedy seedlings, perhaps in response to the warming weather; a very low germination rate, but not complete failure. (Sadly I can't get replacement seed off that and shall actually have to buy some more!)
The chilli seeds have now managed to achieve a couple of upright specimens, although they have yet to manage to shake off their seed-cases and open their leaves -- the one that germinated first is still vainly sending a root out across the surface and has failed to push itself up whereas others are coming up in the normal way, neck first, so I have tried burying it a bit. I only need one surviving plant really anyway, since I still have vast numbers of dried chillies from last year's harvest, and indeed haven't quite finished the previous year's crop!

Mustn't forget that I was planning to try out the possibly-Explosive-Ember variety as well, for which I still have the carefully saved seed -- I should have room as I'm not bothering with the big ones this year.

Comments

[watervole]

It's grape hyacinth and it's VERY difficult to eradicate. I have it in my rockery. I do my best to remove it every year and it always comes up again.

Admittedly, it's harder on a rockery as you can't dig down between the stones, but it still spreads very easily.

Do NOT allow it to seed, unless you really want it everywhere.

[igenlode]

That's what I suspected. It's probably controllable in its pot, but I'm afraid I probably ought to chuck out the little ones...

[watervole]

I'd recommend the chuck.

Sham, because they are really pretty, but Oh, the weeding!

[igenlode]

I uprooted all the bulbs I'd carefully split and put into separate pots (which were plumping up quite nicely), and put them into the food recycling caddy, since I can't very well plant them out, compost them or even give them away... I have just kept the original bulb plus whatever offsets it may have produced this year; I can afford one pot of grape hyacinth, assuming it survives the summer.

At least they are not yet another yellow flower!