But early one spring while digging soil for flower pots, I realized just how badly the hillside had deteriorated. Wild onions are a low successional species that requires bare ground to germinate. After eight years of continuous rest there was so much bare ground between the plants that the wild onions were sprouting by the hundreds just in the small area where I was filling flower pots. A foot print sinks deep into the puffy soils left from repeated cycles of freezing and thawing. Air moves easily through the soil and steals the moisture before seeds can germinate.
Animal impact can compact the soil and allow seeds to germinate.
Bennet Hills, Idaho. I worked in the Great Basin Desert of Idaho for some time where the wild onions grew by the tens of thousands across the denuded landscape. Like other low-successional species, they have a short growing cycle. Onions are among the first plants to turn green in the spring. They grow fast, bloom early and set seed almost by the beginning of summer.