ODD, isn’t it, that although garlic cultivation in England goes back 3,000 years, that it only achieved widespread acclaim in this country in moderately recent times?

My old mum was at the vanguard of promoting the now widely acclaimed health benefits of this bulb — a member of the lily family — although along with many of her generation it took a long time to grow to love eating what was considered the taste territory of
‘foreigners’.

I love growing it but, if you take expert advice and only use bulbs from accredited stock instead of supermarket cloves, it’s not necessarily an especially cheap option — but there is a way around it...

It’s getting late in the season now to plant cloves, except a few spring sown varieties, but if you feel the urge, pick up a bulb of your choice and pop some cloves in a rich, sunny bed and they will develop come autumn.

And then do what I do — leave a couple of bulbs in the ground and let them sprout naturally.

Come this time next year you will have enough plants to transplant to a row, ideally nine inches apart.

I have never been troubled by viral disease and have perpetuated, from the single bulb bought years ago, my favourite softneck purple variety bought locally.

Even if you haven’t the space, the same technique can be used for growing garlic in large pots – simply push the cloves an inch below the surface, pointy end up, of course.

Like all gardeners, I am a fan of getting results for free.

Hyacinths are another example. Each year I grow some indoors and you can mark Christmases past by the colours in a little bed next to the veg patch.

The bulbs can be planted outside once they have played their festive part and will produce bulblets which can be separated and at first will produce tiny flowers expanding in the coming years to super-scented superflowers that add jolly colour at this time of year.

I love planting seeds from my travels too, the results evoking memories of time place.

I won’t see my Madeiran sweet chestnuts in maturity, but even as tiny saplings they tell of that lovely isle and its quaint little-known chestnut festival where they were bought last autumn.

                                                                 TOP TIPS

  • Mulch rhubarb with a thick layer of well-rotted manure to keep it healthy and moist. Take care not to cover the crown as that will encourage rot.
  • Feed acid-loving blueberry plants with ericaceous plant fertiliser. Create a comfrey bed to make your own organic fertiliser. Sow into a seedbed in an unused corner of the garden.
  • Top-up raised beds with compost and good quality topsoil.
  • Begin weeding as the weather warms — it goes without saying it’s much easier to control weeds if you remove them while they’re still young.
  • Top-dress containers by removing the top couple of inches of soil, replacing it with fresh compost.
  • Carrots, beetroot, lettuce and spinach are among seeds that can be sown now in the veg plot.