Donal Hickey: Ancient goodness of garlic

An old belief in Irish folk medicine was that there’s a plant or herb for every ailment, if you could only find them. And there’s no problem this year in locating a valued plant that you’ll often smell before you see.

Wild garlic is growing in profusion in woodland floors, fighting for space with flowers like bluebells and buttercups. Maybe it’s because people are taking more notice of the natural world as they have the time in current circumstances, but several have commented to us about wild garlic in recent weeks.