Ice and fire: we’ve had blazing sunsets and the first severe frost this week
We’ve been getting stuck in to some winter jobs this week. One is trimming our hedge alongside the main road, as it leaps out to prod and tickle and generally annoy pedestrians. We like bushy, tall hedges for wildlife habitat, of course, but as far as we know giving it a trim will help it to grow back more densely, so we hope nothing is lost and something is gained for our furry, feathery and creepy crawly friends.
Another winter job has been clearing away the last of the debris that is the fully harvested courgette and squash plants – which means our compost heap is out of control again!
And it really is winter now, take our word for it. We’ve had our first properly severe frost hit this week, and it killed a lot of the nasturtiums, and any last beans that had been clinging on. So the end of summer is officially here.
But when one life ends we’re always laying the ground for new life: we’ve been planting more garlic bulbs for next year, and having a bit of fun experimenting. We usually plant seed clove stock that we order from the Garlic Farm on the Isle of Wight – real garlic experts, and hence the criminal pun heading this post. But this year we’re going to try also planting some of the cloves we’ve saved from this year’s harvest to see how well we can do, and we’ll be making comparisons with what we grow from bought-in seed cloves.
Overall, we’ll have four garlic varieties growing for next year – Lautrec, Early Purple, Iberian and Carcasson. The Lautrec, says head grower Joris, is very spicy and sharp, and considered the best for taste by many, while the Early Purple and Iberian are safer for those who don’t like their garlic at nuclear strength, with a nuttier, milder flavour. The Carcasson is new to us, so watch this space.