Go for garlic
Harvest garlic
The next few weeks are key for your garlic crop. If you planted seed cloves on the shortest day in June, they’ll be ready to harvest over the next couple of weeks.
Ease up on feeding (especially with nitrogenous fertilisers that promote leaf growth) or watering, as the bulbs now need to divert their energies to curing and hardening for harvest and storage.
Do keep an eye out for black aphids – squash by hand or use a pyrethrum spray.
Garlic is almost ready to be harvested when the tips of the leaves start turning yellow. Check by gently digging one up with a fork and checking that the bulbs are fully formed.
Harvest garlic on a dry day, then hang it up in an airy, shaded place for several weeks until the wrappers dry out. Trim the roots and tops and store it in a bag. Or if you want a rustic-looking plait, leave the tops untrimmed and watch one of the many tutorials on YouTube on how to plait it.
Lure pests away from crops
Cleomes are one of the best ‘‘catch plants’’ for attracting green vege bugs away from your beans and tomatoes. They are tall (around
1.5m), robust flowers that don’t seem to be too badly affected by the bugs if you pick them off regularly. Their botanical name, Cleome spinosa, gives a warning, so watch out for the prickly stems. The thorns on mature stems can easily pierce a gardening glove.
As well as their bug patrol duties, cleomes are worth growing for the pink, mauve or white flowers as they bloom for months – right through to late autumn. Sow seeds (from Kings Seeds) directly in the garden now or in trays in spring. Grow in full sun or semishade. If planted close together
(25cm) they’ll grow tall and slim at the back of the border. You’ll get more flowers on stockier plants if they’re planted 50cm apart and you pinch out the growing tips when the seedlings are 6-10cm tall.
The best time for hunting green vege bugs is first thing in the morning when they are sluggish. As cold-blooded insects, they need the heat of the sun in order to warm up enough to move quickly. Knock them into a jar of soapy water or stomp on them when they land on the ground.
Eat flowers
Throw the purple pom-pom flowers of chives in your salads (they taste mildly of onions); freeze the tiny blue flowers of borage in ice cubes to drop into your summer drinks (they add a hint of cucumber) or decorate the summer trifle with freshly picked ones; or stuff zucchini flowers with soft cheeses, then batter and fry them. The raw flowers aren’t very exciting to nibble on but stuffed and cooked they taste of crunchy cheesiness.
Nasturtium flowers have a peppery flavour and a light honey scent. Some people describe them as nature’s honey mustard. Don’t wash the flowers as they’ll flop, and only add them to a salad after you’ve dressed the rest with vinaigrette and just moments before serving or they’ll rapidly wilt. Try stuffing the flowers with cream cheese, too.
– compiled by Barbara Smith