Make a note in your diary. April is allium
month. Now, you might not know, but allium is the Latin name for garlic.
But it also refers to the genus of plants that are onions, chives, leeks, shallots and
of course garlic. Timing is important for most veggie crops, but for alliums, it's essential.
how much sunshine they get. So, that's day length and temperature.
To get big fat garlics or onions, you need to make sure they have a lot of leaf
growth before the day lengthens. When this happens, they stop growing leaves and they
start growing bulbs. Alliums hate a crowd, meaning they hate
to compete for space. From things like weeds, big sticks, large bits in the soil like rocks,
as well as large clods. This is especially important for subterranean alliums like garlic,
so you need to make sure that you've cultivated your soil well so it's light and fluffy and
friable. They also like a sweeter soil, so I'm
adding a good handful of dolomite lime every square metre. This'll raise the PH of the
soil by one and add a good amount of calcium and magnesium, which will give these plants
a good start and keep them growing healthy through the season.
The soil here at The Patch is beautiful, but I'm still digging it over well to break
up the clods. If your soil isn't quite up to scratch, you might need to add a barrel-load
of homemade compost every two square metres or so. And you can try a bit of aged manure
but never use it fresh. You just end up with soft, sappy, pest-prone onions.
There are hundreds of different varieties of garlic and the good news is there'll be
one or two that are well-suited to your conditions. My advice would be try a couple of varieties.
They all mature at different times, which means you'll be able to enjoy your garlic
for a lot longer throughout the year.
I've got three varieties today. I've got the 'Spanish Roja', or Spanish Red. It's
a tight little bulb that has nice little cloves. Really punchy with the flavour.
The other one is a 'Dunganski'. It's a pretty monstrous-sized bulb. This usually
indicates a lack of taste, but I guarantee you that this one is jam-packed full of flavour.
And the last one is the elephant garlic. Technically, it's a leek, with a nice, smooth flavour and
if you're in a warmer part of the country, this might be the variety for you.
Break your bulbs apart into individual cloves remembering to leave the papery coating
on. Always choose the biggest of your cloves. These will perform the best.
Now, here's a good little tip. As garlic needs a good chill to start shooting, I like
to plant in furrows, so the cloves are just covered. I've found they shoot well and as
they grow, you can backfill around them.
Plant them about 15cm apart and remember - pointy end up.
Now, I know the elephant garlic is a leek, but plant it just like a garlic. Here's
a fairly unusual one. I've had a lot of success with these in my own garden.
They're called a potato or multiplier onion, and they get this name because they
multiply as rampantly as potatoes do. Now, they're a small onion and you'd be forgiven
for thinking they're a shallot. They're in the same group, but whereas shallots are long
and skinny, potato onions are short and fat.
Now, I'm gonna give them about 20cm apart, because they multiply a lot and from one bulb,
you can get up to 30 developing. I've planted a lot of bulbs today, but some plants do better
as seedlings, like leeks. Now, I know it's getting a little bit
late in the season, but this particular variety, 'Durabel', should go well into the spring
and if they do bolt, then that's not a problem, because the flowers are absolutely beautiful.
I like to use a stick. Just make a nice, big hole and plant them quite deeply. That way,
you'll get a good, juicy, succulent stem to nibble on.
Probably the easiest and quickest allium to grow would be the spring onion. I've got
a variety called 'Red Beard', which produces a thick, red base. They're so simple to plant.
Just lay the individual seedlings in a furrow and then backfill to cover the roots.
little things up. In a few days, they'll do that themselves.
I'm watering in the seedlings of the spring onions and the leeks but not the bulbs.
That's because they're not in active growth, so if you keep them too wet, they can rot
in the ground. Well, to recap, April is allium month.
Cultivate your soil well, sweeten it with a bit of lime and plant them in an open, sunny
position. Well, that's 'shallot'.