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NIGEL COLBORN’S ESSENTIAL JOBS FOR YOUR GARDEN THIS WEEK

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NOVEMBER is a great month for planting garlic. If you don’t have the cloves to hand, buy yours as soon as possible. Avoid using supermarke­t garlic — that’s fine for cooking and eating but it may not be ideal for growing in our damp, chilly climate.

You can buy suitable garlic varieties from seedsmen and online suppliers such as

marshalls-seeds.co.uk or mrfothergi­lls. co. uk or from garden centres. Whatever the source, make sure the bulbs are firm and healthy before you plant.

Begin by preparing the ground. Scatter about 50 g of general fertiliser, such as Growmore or pelleted poultry manure, per square metre. Then cultivate the ground gently until you have a good, crumbly tilth.

Break up the bulbs into individual cloves and plant these roughly 15cm apart in rows with 30cm between the rows. Each clove needs to be just below the surface but not buried too deeply.

You can lay fleece on the ground over your garlic crop to protect from birds which like to tug the bulbs out of the soil.

Never plant garlic where onions, leeks, chives or other related crops have been grown less than two years previously. Growing such crops without a long break in between greatly increases the risk of disease carryover, particular­ly of white rot.

Once white rot has infected soil, it can remain a serious threat for many years — so take care always to rotate your crops.

 ??  ?? Succulent: Plant garlic cloves in November
Succulent: Plant garlic cloves in November

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