Planting Garlic

Garlic is an easy plant to start off our growing, and as it’s nice and mild at the moment it won’t too hard to get out into the garden after the Christmas break. Nearly everybody uses garlic now in everyday cooking and there is nothing better than being able to use your own - it always tastes better.
Garlic bulbs are easily available and all you have to do is break them up into the individual cloves. Peel off the outer skin carefully, it makes sure your cloves are free from any fungus that might cause problems later. Plant cloves root down , approx. 2" deep and about 6 " apart in an area that gets sun or only light shade . They like free draining soil so if your soil is heavy or clay consider using sand/grit under the plants to improve drainage. Another solution is to use a raised be to improve drainage from the soil. Garlic likes cold weather so don’t mind if the weather turns cold after planting, so long as we don’t have an extended cold spell like last year ( -15 !)
We will return to our garlic later in the season to make sure we get the best crop we can.

Happy Gardening.

The Gardening Year

Well, this is the first of many blogs  (all going well!). We are going to try and pass on some of the knowledge and general love of gardening that our mother , A.M.F Gaule , passed on to us as we grew up in a little cottage in Ballymurragh, Graiguenamanagh, Co Kilkenny.
Week by week, our post will I hope guide you through what needs to be done in the garden. Gardening is all about planning ahead for the season ahead. Having the ground ready so when its time you’re ready to sow, having ordered / bought your plants or seeds so you have something to sow!
I hope this will be a fitting tribute to our mother and her love of nature, gardening and life.

Alice M.F Gaule

2.1.1921 - 30.11.1998

Preparing the ground work -
As mentioned earlier, now is a good time to dig over any garden area that you intend using over the coming year if you haven’t already done so. It’s not the easiest job in the world so if you’re new to it, do small bits - a little at a time. Even if you are used to it, and I'm not saying I am, I like "to measure twice and cut once”! - my wife often catches me stopped and lost in thought as I go about gardening jobs ( usually planning the next and hopefully easier task ) and she's heard my "cutting once" excuse on just a few occasions. By digging over your plot and digging in any compost or manure you might have will, not only add to the amount of nourishment of the soil but, give our frosty weather the chance to kill off any weeds and bugs that might otherwise give us grief next year. If your soil is a heavy clay type, any compost/manure you add will also have the benefit of improving drainage - not too many plants like to have their roots sitting permanently in water.

Until next week ,when we hit the next thing on our list , happy digging.