GARLIC

Besides warding off vampires, garlic is a master at fending off colds, flu and sore throats. It’s a broad-spectrum infection fighter; numerous studies confirm its effectiveness against many bacteria, fungi and viruses. Taken as a preventative, garlic can help you avoid a cold and regular use is also reported to prevent cardiovascular disease, lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels, and inhibit blood clotting. This is all due to garlic’s allicin content, which forms when the cloves are crushed.

Although tradition says to plant your garlic on the shortest day and harvest it on the longest, you can get it in the ground as early as May and harvest it in the new year. Garlic requires a decent winter chill to initiate bulbing, so don’t leave it too late in the season. Break off the individual cloves and plant only the fattest ones in a sunny spot in fertile, well-drained soil that’s been enriched with compost. Garlic is harvested when the leaves start to go brown.