Hi! Any idea on what those are? I found them in my raised bed while preparing it for the spring season. They look like little onions but have the texture of potatoes.
I live in Georgia, USA.
If they smell garlicky they’re probably Allium vineale.
Most likely it’s Allium canadense. Quite tasty to cook with or put in salads. My grandmother used to make a jam with them that we ate on toast.
They do not smell of garlic. Oh well.
I feel like this needs a standard-issue ”don’t eat it” bot
Lol yeah. There’s a German saying “was der Bauer nicht kennt, isst er nicht”, that is, “what the farmer doesn’t know, he won’t eat”.
Usually said as a phase to excuse picky eating but it does, in broader terms, have some wisdom behind it.
I certainly won’t eat it.
That’s right up there with “Periods of starvation are when we discovered all the world’s great foods.”
I mean really, who was the first person to try cheese?
My life could benefit a lot from that bot.
I call em mowin snacks
In principle, probably fine. But also, I’m new to the area. I don’t know the climate region. In fact, this is a relatively new continent to me… Maybe I’m too cautious for not eating them but also… Yer shouldn’t eat what yer don’t knoo.
Yeah I mean, it looks like an onion to me; it could be some kinda tulip I guess, which wouldn’t be great, but… looks like an onion to me. I’d bite the greens and see if it tastes like chives.
I have a lot of onion grass in my backyard - exactly what I do with it lol. Always nice to chew on some while mowing.
My vote goes to grape hyacinth too.
Hmm that be quite pretty. There are still some left around the area of the raised bed which I guess I’ll just allow to flower and see what happens. Will post an update if I remember.
FWIW, seconded. These look basically identical the grape hyacinth bulbs in my yard.
You can check by making a tea out of them. I don’t recommend drinking it (it’s mostly just “green” flavor), but it works as a pH indicator. If you add a bit of lemon juice, it should turn pink!
Ran your photo through a plant detection app (Picture This) and got the result Star of Bethlehem. They do grow in your area, and do be careful because the bulbs are toxic!
If these are indeed Star of Bethlehem, you should be able to confirm the identification when they bloom. The flowers would look like this:
Pretty! There are some around which didn’t interfere with my gardening. Will post update when/if they bloom.
So this is by now about 1 month over due. But you were indeed correct. These were Stars of Bethlehem. Relevant picture attached.Pretty flowers and closure. Two of my favorite things. Crazy that the AI could detect exactly what they were based on the original image. Thanks for following up!
The bulb shape, color, and texture aren’t a match for scallion.
Scallions are just baby onions. If you let the shoot continue to grow it will become an onion.
That is highly variable based on which type of green onion you’ve got and they don’t literally turn into onions. Some just grow large, onion-like bulbs.
Looking it up I can’t find a clear answer. A lot of sources say they’re just baby onions. Other sources say they won’t grow into regular onions.
At this point it’s onions all the way down.
I grow multiple types of green onions from seed and they do not all grow bulbs no matter how long you leave them in the ground. Imagine tiny leeks, for example.
Try looking up seeds for various type of green onions and you’ll see how they can vary quite a bit.
Fair enough
But green onions don’t have the texture of a potato?
Huh… Checks out. Rad!
Well… On second thought and after seeing all these comments… I’ll let some flower and we’ll see what they were.
Potentially grape hyacinth?
There’s a few flowering bulbs that have leaves similar to that. Do you see any blossoms emerging from any of them? I’m in North Carolina and I just saw the first grape hyacinth flowers yesterday.
They’re called corms. A number of plants reproduce this way. Yours look like my grape hyacinth, but could be some other flowering plant.
Huh. TIL about Corms. And how they place relative to bulbs, rhizomes, and tubers. I used to think seed -> soil -> ??? -> profit.
I guess, for me as a hobby grower that’s still unchanged. But I’m starting think about vegetation around me and how it tries to stay alive from season to season.
These look like Bluebell bulbs. Very prolific and can be invasive but I still love ‘em!
I’ve always called them wild onions
