Garlic may not be the most obvious crop to plant but it is easy and very worthwhile. You need a huge garden to be self-sufficient in potatoes but only the end of a small raised bed to grow all the garlic you need. And if you eat masses of garlic you can still grow all you need.
It is easiest to grow it in the ground and, because it prefers well-drained soil, a raised bed is perfect. You can also grow it in pots if you don’t have a garden, when a pot at least 20cm wide and deep and John Innes No 3 compost is best. In theory you can plant the garlic you buy from the supermarket but much of this is grown in China and will be infected with virus, which is not harmful to us but is not good to plant. So it is best to buy garlic bulbs from Nag’s Hall and then, with clean stock, you can even save some each year to plant again.
Basically, garlic needs a long growing season so is planted in late autumn and harvested in July or August. Each bulb is composed of many small bulbs or cloves and these are planted individually and when you harvest it, it will have grown into a bulb with lots of cloves again.
Garlic is easy to grow and the only real problem is rust disease which infects and kills the leaves but this is only serious in late summer, just as the plants are dying down so rarely affects the crop. If you have onion white rot in the soil then do not plant garlic because it will affect the garlic too. A sunny, exposed site is best.
Prepare the soil by forking it over and remove any weeds. Then pull the bulb apart to separate the cloves and plant these about 15cm apart, with rows 30cm apart. Do not push the cloves into the soil but use a trowel so the tops (the pointed end) are about 1cm deep. There is no need to water, at this time of year and all you need to do is keep the weeds under control. Leaves should soon appear and remain over winter.
Weekly reminders
There is still time to plant bulbs, in borders, pots and in grass
Replace the contents of patio pots. Pull up plants and compost them, tip the compost on the soil of borders and replant with plants for winter and spring interest
Look after pumpkins and other squashes. Lift the fruits carefully off the soil and put some straw under them. Cut away leaves that are shading the fruits to they ripen. Be prepared to cut them if an early frost is forecast.