These grow back every year at the lake. The original owners had a huge garden. I dug these up and thought they were garlic. Brought them home one year and hung them to dry (like garlic). Didn't like the looks of them, so threw them under a tree. They came back every year. Now I don't think they're garlic. The bulbs are two to three inches across. I'm not a veggie gardener. Can you tell?

Have you cut it? It looks more like an onion. My garlic gets little bulbets attached to the bulb but maybe that's just my kind.

I'll go cut one and be right back!

I don't know where my post went, but here goes, again! The bulb looked like an onion, but didn't smell like one. Didn't smell like garlic either. Not going to eat it until i know what it is!





After looking at the cut bulb, I peeled the outer layer off and there were three "cloves." I'll have to cut another one tomorrow. There are little seed bulbs that were hanging off the main ones (in the second pic).

The bloom:

I'm going to take a wild guess here and say it's a leek. Either Allium porrum or Allium ampeloprasum

Leeks (Allium ampeloprasum)

Elephant Garlic (Allium ampeloprasum)

Leek, onion, and garlic all belong to the same family. Leek is more or less a milder onion, usually with a smaller bulb. You may have leek or onion and only tasting it will tell you what it is. It won't harm you to take a little nibble. You definitely don't have garlic here. The flower head you show is very typical of onion that I grow. Ken

First pic shows how long they are

I striped the dead stuff off the stalk

Shows the segments of the bulb and a seed from last night, and a cross section of this morning's experiment on the right. Doesn't look like an onion.

It is Elephant Garlic, I am very familiar with it, you have to plant the cloves separately in October to get a good garlic bulb with many good cloves.
Here is a link to show how I cultivate it

I hope posting it here is o.k.

Thanks Josephine! I think you've solved the mystery. Thanks to Horntoad and Dr Dawg too!

It had already bloomed. I usually let the deer have everything, anyway. I'll plant some here, so I can keep an eye on it.

That is one of the plants I suggested (Allium ampeloprasum) in the post above. Also known as wild leek.

Elephant Garlic (Allium ampeloprasum)

Oh, I didn't mean to say you didn't have it right, you did have it right , of course.

Horntoad, my confusion was not seeing any discernable segmentation in the layers when I sliced through the bulb. It didn't look like garlic and it didn't look like an onion. Josephine pointed out it needed to mature. I think I dug it up too soon. And now I wonder if I shouldn't just chuck it all, except for the little seed bulbs that were hanging on? Not sure if it's good to eat.

frostweed said:Oh, I didn't mean to say you didn't have it right, you did have it right , of course.

Well, I gave two options so I was only half right.

Sandi, could they be garlic chives: Allium tuberosum, (commonly known as garlic chives, Chinese chives, Oriental garlic, Chinese leek, also known by the Chinese name kow choi[3] (also transliterated as gau choy; Chinese: 韭菜; Mandarin Pinyin: Jiǔcài; Wade–Giles: Chiu3-ts'ai4; Jyutping: gau2 coi3), or the Japanese name nira, is a vegetable related to onion.
They have garlicky smell.

I don't think they're garlic chives. These very big and tall plants. Of course, being that I'm not much of a veggie gardener, my garlic chives are only about a foot tall on a good day!

My garlic chives are at least 2' tall but your plants don't look like they are garlic chives. They also would have been in bloom in April/May, depending on what part of the country you live in. There blooms are white where the standard chive blooms are lavender. I have never bothered to plant Elephant "garlic" (which isn't even a garlic) because the taste is so tasteless. Since I have never seen it grow I don't know what it looks like before digging up. But Elephant garlic has distinctive "cloves" and is quite large, so again, the pictures I see don't fit the plant. I still think you have a variety of leek.

Looks like the bulbets give another point to the garlic group

There were definitely "cloves'' of some sort. I think Josephine was correct in that I dug it up too soon. I'll plant the little seed bulbs and see what comes up next year here....where I can keep an eye on it.

Sandi, the little seed bulbs will make a mature bulb on the second year from planting, they also take a long time to germinate because of the hard shell, but they do come up eventually.

I'll try 'em! Thanks for good info!