Garlic Ideas, Tips & Guides

Garlic is used in almost every cuisine on the planet, and with good reason. It is incredibly versatile but also a hardy and easy crop to grow. While there are many tips for growing garlic, each one different from the last, one thing everyone seems to agree on is planting garlic in the fall.

7 Reasons Why Garlic Leaves Fall Over

In the world of gardening, battling pests is an ongoing challenge. While traditional pest control methods certainly have their merits, some gardeners have ventured into the realm of unconventional remedies and lesser-known tricks to protect their precious plants. Here’s a glimpse into the world of Bizarre Pest Control Remedies that might just save your garden.

How to Identify and Control 7 Garlic Diseases

Growing onions is a popular task for millions of gardeners and knowing when to harvest red onions – along with yellow and white varieties – is important for success. If you harvest onions too early, it means a limited storage life. But, harvesting too late could mean a split or rotten bulb. In this article, I’m going to review two perfect times for harvesting red onions. One is ideal for fresh use and the other is best for optimizing storage life.

Autumn has arrived, the vegetable harvest is at its height and the borders are full of late-flowering perennials. It’s the perfect time to enjoy this year’s crops and plan beautiful bulb displays for next spring. Many herbaceous perennials benefit from being divided over the next few weeks and tender plants can be propagated this month too.

Garlic has been with us since Roman times – just visit any Italian restaurant to get an understanding of how central the flavour is to their dishes. At Glanbrydan (in West Wales) we love to use it in our own cooking as well as adding it to many of the fillings of the baked pasties and pies we sell.

When we were shopping last week, we spotted a very good deal on two packets of salmon fillets – something we normally don’t eat. I’m not the biggest fan of salmon, and have never been able to understand why people rave about it, but we are trying to broaden our food horizons, so we bought them.

Cornish hedges are an exuberant delight. I visited in April a few years back, and every lane was awash with alexanders (Smyrnium olusatrum). This year, in May, they put on a stunning display that would put a Chelsea show garden to shame.

The garden and I have not spent much time together this summer. I’ve been busy… there was weather… there have been too many days when I didn’t feel like going outside. Since the courgette and summer squash started fruiting, I’ve been a bit afraid to go outside in case there’s a mountain of fruit to pick. But the light was nice this morning, so I ventured outside to take a few photos (and the squashes seem to be slowing down, so it’s safe).

When I clear the next bed it will be time to plant the overwintering onions. I choose to plant my onions in the autumn for two reasons; the first is that I like having the beds filled overwinter. It’s nicer than having a bare garden to look at. The second is that they are harvestable about a month earlier in the summer, which means their bed is available for replanting a month earlier, and that works for me.

Today’s guest post is from Carl Legge.

I invented this soup for lunch. I should say now that the only reason I weighed everything was so that I could write the recipe down for you – left to my own devices I just bung things in.

The barbecue doesn’t need to be the preserve of meat – quality vegetable kebabs go down a treat with meat eaters and herbivores, they just require a bit of time and imagination. The halloumi adds some bite and additional texture, going beautifully crispy on the outside and gooey on the inside.

The garden and I are both grateful for the rain. The hot and dry weather doesn’t suit either of us. I’m happier in the cooler seasons of the year, which might explain why my autumn garden is going better than the summer one! The purple sprouting broccoli is starting to grow past its cabbage white damage, to the point where I am starting to stake it now, against the wind rock that will damage its roots in the winter. The flower sprouts haven’t got to that stage yet, but at least they are planted out in their final home and can start getting their roots down into the fertile soil. The leek bed is doing well, although there are one or two holes where seedlings have died. It doesn’t matter.

When we last saw my mini polytunnel from First Tunnels, it was just an open frame, sitting out of the way on top of a raised bed until Ryan had time to finish it. Since then, Ryan has been working on putting a door onto the frame, with magnetic latches:

Happy Easter! It has been so wet the last few days that a canoe would be of more use than a wheelbarrow. The forecast for the week ahead doesn’t look any better, but today it has been dry all morning. Since it looks as though I am going to be crazy busy with work this month, I thought I would take the opportunity to do the next batch of seed sowing, and so I headed out into the garden. I was greeted by the first asparagus spear of the season – and we get to harvest some this year!

I felt like spending some time outside on Sunday morning. This was the salad bed when I went out – a chaotic jumble of plants, most on their last legs. I cleared it all out, and was rewarded with several carrots, a small beetroot, a little tuft of kale and some leaf beet leaves.

I spent an hour or so in the garden yesterday. What I went outside to do was take care of my ‘Ruby Beauty’ dwarf raspberries, which were planted together in one container (which is OK, they’re designed for relatively close planting). In 2015 they looked fine; in 2016 not so much. I think I forgot to prune back the fruited canes. So yesterday I pruned out all of the dead wood, transplanted one into a container on its own and repotted the remaining two in the same container, so they’ve got more space and some fresh compost underneath to lift them out of their ‘slump’.

It’s time to cut down on your carbon footprint and help lock carbon in the soil, and the good news is that this doesn’t have to be a self-sacrificing activity, it can be a win-win situation if you choose to grow your own food!

After 3 weeks (2 ‘official’, 1 trial) living on a modern version of the wartime rations, Ryan and I are calling it a day. We’re not hungry, and we’re not bored with the food. What we’ve found is that we live within the ration of meat, fats and dairy products quite happily. I guess this is because we are flexitarians (or reducetarians), and have been consciously reducing our meat consumption for some time, bulking out meals with vegetables and/or pulses, as they would have done in wartime. (And we’ve long been barraged with health warnings about eating too much fat!) Of course, we also have the benefits of a household fridge, and an array of foodstuffs that just wouldn’t have been available in wartime, particularly as the war wore on and people’s stocks of spices and flavourings ran down.

All too often, homeowners and gardeners wage war against the plants that grow incredibly well in their lawns and gardens but that aren't intentionally planted. And often, the justification for these battles comes down to the words we use to describe them—as in «weeds.»

Basil is one of my favorite summer herbs, but I find it painful to have to buy basil to use in winter recipes when I grow it all summer. That’s why I freeze fresh herbs, so I can enjoy that fresh flavor if I don’t have an indoor herb plant at hand for my recipe. In this article, I’m going to share advice on how to freeze basil a few different ways.

August is an interesting and busy time in a vegetable garden, as many readers will no doubt be well aware. Most of your attention is likely to be on harvesting and tending the summer crops.

Would you like to find out how to grow garlic?  It’s such an easy crop to grow!

These non-toxic solutions can wipe out the problem of garden bugs without causing much harm to the rest of your yard. Know everything about DIY Insecticidal Soap Recipes for the Garden!

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I firmly believe that everyone should have some garlic growing in their garden. The plants take up hardly any space,

If you are looking for an easy and cheap ways to keep you plants safe in home and yard, then do not miss this list on the most Common Items in Home to Solve All of Pest Problems!

Step into March with a clear vision for 2020 as we celebrate National Nutrition Month. Choosing nutritious foods and getting enough physical activity can make a significant difference in your health.

Fresh South Carolina tomatoes harvested in the summer months are true delicacies. They really are at their best with bare minimum preparation. A Pico de Gallo style salsa combines ingredients that highlight a super fresh summer tomato. The following recipe is simple, easy to prepare, and packed full of flavor.

People in the south don’t like changes to traditional grits, and I’m one of them. I love grits in their most basic form: cook in water and then add a good helping of butter, salt, and pepper. However, since October is the month of adding pumpkin to just about everything, I decided to give this recipe a try.

You may like to “put de lime in de coconut” or “pina coladas in the rain”, but these two products (pictured below), while both made from the flesh of the coconut, are NOT the same.

It is time to think about how you are going to prepare your Thanksgiving turkey. How do you prepare yours? Have you ever tried brining to add flavor and moisture? Brining meat is the process of adding salt before cooking to add moisture and flavor. A turkey can be brined using a wet or dry process. It is important to consider both methods before choosing which one you want to use. Both ways produce a flavorful and moist turkey but have other important considerations that may impact your choice.

October has rolled in, and with it comes National Apple and Cranberry Month. At this time of year, you may see more and more recipes prepared with apples or cranberries. Apples and cranberries can add color and a crisp taste to your salads, cooked dishes, baked goods, or beverages.

Wild garlic (Allium vineale) is a winter, perennial weed that looks like a clump of blue-green grass. Native to Europe and east Asia, this weed is commonly found throughout the Southeast. It was brought to North America in soil used as ballast weight in sailboats. The dirt would be removed, and cargo would take its place on return journeys to Europe.