Ramp Plants for Planting

Overview

Ramps or wild leeks are spring vegetable bulbs that grow in the wild in moist forest floor settings. They are prized as an early spring green and have a flavor combining the best attributes of green onion and garlic. Commercial cultivation has been started to try and limit the degradation being done to the bulb plants in the wild due to over-harvesting and unsustainable demands for this savory allium.

Step 1

Locate a good local or Internet plant dealer that specializes in vegetables and exotic bulbs. Fresh ramp bulbs can be purchased as bare bulbs or in their plant form in nursery pots in the early spring. Alternatively, purchase the seeds. However, they can take between a year and 18 months to germinate and longer still to produce edible plants.

Step 2

Dig and transplant wild growing ramp bulbs in the summer, fall and winter before the new spring shoots emerge. Transplant plants with green tops intact in March, when the soil is soft enough to lift the bulb and roots intact. Dig down at least four inches deep to make sure you do not damage the bulb's roots.

Step 3

Transplant the bulb approximately three inches deep with the tip of the bulb standing above the soil surface by roughly an 1/8 to 1/4 inch. Transplant multiple bulbs at intervals of 5 to 6 inches.

Step 4

Use nutrient rich and moist planting soil amended with organics such as compost and aged manure if need be. Mulch over the ramp bulbs with roughly a three-inch thick blanket of leaf mold to protect the bulbs and hold moisture to the soil