We purchased our home last fall and didn't pay much attention to the yard. Now that spring has triggered growth we have discovered that the previous owners planted garlic throughout the lawn and flower beds. Why would someone do this?
2007-03-05 04:57:04 · 8 answers · asked by irishhorizon 2 in Home & Garden ➔ Garden & Landscape
Animals and some bugs hate garlic. It's a natural pest deterrent.
2007-03-05 05:05:32 · answer #1 · answered by Lisa P 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
I don't think it's garlic either, my guess it is a weed we call onion weed in Australia. If you crush the leaves it smells like onions. It has thin grey green leaves (about 3 to 4 mm wide), slightly succulent to feel but thin. When you dig a mature plant it has one bulb with lots of little bulblets around it. If it is garlic it will have quite wide leaves and will grow alot higher than this. If it is onion weed it will grow up to 14" approx high. I don't think it is nut grass it is green and has glossy grass like leaves. Take some to your local garden centre they should be able to identify it.
Onion weed is very annoying to eradicate. You can try to dig up the bulbs but as you do the bulblets drop of and start new plants later (you can't find then all in the soil their to small).
I'm working to get rid of a few patches in my garden, and after research I discovered the following to be the best method I could find. Don't dig up, every lost bulb grows. When you find plants "paint" the leaves with an old paint brush and straight glyphosate (Roundup). I found a product with two differnet types of glyposate called Eraze (May have a different name in your country) to be very successful. If you accidently get it on a plant that you want, rinse the good plant immediately with water - it should be ok. In a group of plants put cardboard between the weed and the good plants and paint this way. Everytime you kill the plant the bulblets will then grow you then kill the leaves that come up from the bulblets - it may take a few years and you have to be constant to beat it. Never let the plants go to seed, pull then off if you don't have time to poison and dispose of in the garbage bin, with any bulbs or bulblets.
2007-03-05 11:58:53 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's not garlic. I live in OH and we have a new problem. Nut grass. It has 2-3 leaves that look like garlic. It also grows from a tuber. They all grow the same heighth. If you pull it out you get 8 new pieces. If this is what you have, you need a special chemical. Try your local garden center. Bring some with you.
2007-03-05 08:15:43 · answer #3 · answered by saaanen 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
This would be to keep cats off the lawn. Get some cat pepper and look at the ingredients, there is usually garlic in it and if you smell the pepper it usually smells of garlic.
2007-03-05 06:50:25 · answer #4 · answered by Chris B 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Are you sure those aren't wild onions? They look and smell a lot like garlic and are very common weeds.
2007-03-05 05:20:38 · answer #5 · answered by thegubmint 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Wow That's to cool maybe they like garlic and maybe it keeps the bugs and pests away maybe you will get lucky and asparagus will start to spout
2007-03-05 05:01:40 · answer #6 · answered by delmonticoman 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Keeps animals and varmits away.
2007-03-05 05:03:29 · answer #7 · answered by haylsin 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
To keep away deer and aphids, at least that's why we do. And it works.
2007-03-05 15:55:57 · answer #8 · answered by boofer 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋