Gearing up for tasty garlic!
There are delicious bulbs to look forward to, as well as juicy beetroot
What a joy the last week has been, and all it took to bring wide grins to our allotmenteers was bright sunshine over several crisp, winter days. There are few finer ways of keeping fit than to be out in the open air and working at a pace set by yourself and your degree of fitness. It certainly lifts the spirits.
Garlic planted at the end of October loves these low temperatures and is keeping its head down. The result is lots of root activity below ground, which will feed the emerging shoots in the new year and furnish us with large, tasty bulbs.
What a great all-year-round vegetable garlic is. It adds flavour to many dishes, even if its aroma may not win you many friends! It has many beneficial uses, too. It helps lower blood pressure and cholesterol, promoting a healthy heart. It’s been used in the early 20th century for treating wounds and as a natural antiseptic, and it’s even said that garlic was used by the Romans to treat leprosy and asthma. Boiled garlic can be used as an insect repellent and keeps many pests away, and its oils are said to have an adverse effect on slugs and snails. Personally, I’d rather enjoy its exquisite taste than waste it on all these things. So much from a simple bulb that’s easy to grow.
My greenhouse staging is strewn with used plastic plant labels left from plants on the plot, and from empty seed trays. I use a pencil to mark these with the variety of crop I’m growing, or simply to mark seed trays with what I’ve sown in them. The advantage of using a pencil is that this marking can be easily removed. Being a thrifty allot-menteer, these are reusable. I fill a cup with water and dip the labels in to make the surface wet then gently rub off the writing with a pumice stone. Some of the older labels become brittle after a few years’ use and snap during this process, so occasionally I have to buy new ones.
December is the ideal time of year to clean up paths and make them safe. On the allotment, some of the path edges have crumbled but I’ve easily fixed these with lengths of wood I’ve salvaged from skips.
It’s also a good time to remove the weeds that have made the edge of the path their home. Having set to and completed this bit of ‘housework’, the new season will start off with pristine paths. Very satisfying!
Despite continually harvesting traditional winter vegetables, I’m still happily digging up beetroot. These keep perfectly well on the open plot and are not badly affected by low temperatures. There’s no better taste than freshly cooked, juicy beetroot when still warm and covered in vinegar. It prolongs the taste of summer well into the winter.