Planting Garlic in October

Garlic is the easiest crop I grow. You plant it in autumn, ignore it all winter, and dig it up in July. It does need a few weeks of cold to split into cloves, which is why autumn planting beats spring every time.

How I do it

1. Buy seed garlic, not supermarket bulbs. Supermarket garlic is often a variety bred for warmer climates.
2. Split the bulbs into cloves the day you plant, keeping the papery skin on.
3. Push each clove in pointy end up, 15 cm apart, with the tip about 3 cm below the surface.
4. Rows 30 cm apart. Water once and walk away.

This year I planted 'Germidour' (softneck, keeps well) and 'Lautrec Wight' (hardneck, pink and gorgeous). Forty cloves in total, which should see us through to next summer.

Tip: blackbirds love pulling newly planted cloves out of the ground. A layer of fleece for the first two weeks stops them.