Herb notes by Lynn Kirkland
Winter Tasks on the Riverbank
For 13th July
In the story book land of Wind in the
Willows, Mole, Badger and Toad are rolling
out their wheelbarrows to get on with
the winter tidy up.
Likewise at the herb farm and in many
gardens, gardeners will be using this
dormant time in the garden to have a big
clean up.
Jocelyn, the herb farm gardener, has been
weeding out perennials which are past
their best, pulling out dead annuals and
cutting back shrubs before applying a
thick bed of compost on our low lying
areas.
The worms will work away through the winter
and early spring preparing a wonderful
soil bed for spring planting.
One of the hardest things for many gardeners
is pulling out plants when they may still
have a bit of life in them. If they have
served your garden well but are now past
their use by date, now is a good time
for a cull.
A tidy bedded down winter garden is a
pleasure to the eye and soothing to the
soul.
The Wind in the Willows gang are going
to plant garlic as they know it is time
for doing this. They will plant individual
cloves of garlic and in six months time,
enjoy harvesting a full bulb of garlic
for each clove planted now.
This is one of the miracles of nature.
I am sure everyone knows what a health
giving herb garlic is.
This winter I have planted a few cloves
of elephant garlic which is as the name
would suggest is a garlic of rather large
proportions. It is a sweet, mild and delicious
garlic.
Plant each clove in friable soil covering
it with the depth of soil the same size
as the clove. Then that’s it for six months
apart from keeping an eye on weeds as
the green shoots emerge. It is wonderful
to think of that miracle going on under
the soil.
It’s back to school next week and winter
does bring the usual sniffles and colds
so fortify the family with lots of garlic
in your meals.
Thanks
lynn another great read.
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