Vampire weekend

Garlic

Love the stuff, and the few times I've successfully grown a bulb or two I've been chuffed to bits. No matter that the bulbs were tiny and lacked a bit of punch they still felt like a triumph!

So it's with excitement that I've got me some bulbs to plant this winter. I'd totally forgotten you can plant at this time of year, but on over-hearing a competitive conversation between some keen growers in a cafe ("I've got my garlic in" "Mine have germinated" "Mine germinated before Christmas last year"...) I thought it about time to get my gloves on too.

Having moved away from Bristol into the Gloucestershire countryside (well, Stroud with views of the countryside!), I miss my favourite garden centre down at Riverside. Thankfully, rowing takes me back to town on a Sunday morning and I've made it my mission to head to Riverside after every row to pick up something, anything, just to get my hit and stop me becoming an armchair gardener (that would be taking hapless to the extreme!)

The great thing about doing that is it reminds you what you should be preparing for. A good garden shop hits you between the eyes with a 'must have / you know you want it' goody before you've had time to think 'basket or compost trolley', knowing full well you really actually shouldn't have either because your week's wages will be gone before you've even reached the seed packet bit.

True to form, my arms were laden with first earlies potatoes and no basket before my eyes had even set on the onions... Conscious that I've not started preparing any ground for potatoes I think I'm going to be very late for my earlies!

That's for another day though. This weekend I'm all about the garlic, and will soon have this beauty broken up and staked into the ground, with Dracula quaking in his cloak!

I think I've got enough to keep the Count at bay for another year, and probably enough onions to keep plenty of other people at bay too...