Garlic and onions benefit from autumn planting as they need couple of months of cool temperatures, for good bulb development.

When looking at your vegetable plot plan, bear in mind that onions and garlic have a long growing season and will need to be in the ground until next summer, meaning the ground will not be available for other crops.

When planting onions, a sunny sheltered site is best with well-drained fertile soil if possible.

Push sets into soft, dug over soil so that the tip is just showing. Space them every 10cm in rows 30cm apart. Remove the loose skin at the top before planting to stop birds from lifting them.

Good varieties are ‘first early’ for reliability and for a brightly red coloured onion try ‘electric’.

When planting garlic, break bulbs into individual cloves, make sure they are the right way up with the flatter part of the clove facing downwards, and push into soil so they are 2.5cm below the surface.

Allow 15cm between cloves and 30cm between rows.

Good varieties are ‘Solent Wight’ which has good storage properties from a late summer harvesting. ‘Early Wight’ can be harvested from the end of May.

Bramley idea

My tree was laden with Bramley apples this year so I’m always looking for ways to use these versatile cooking apples.

For breakfast, why not peel, core, chop and cook with a dash of water and a generous pinch of mixed spice and sugar to serve with granola and Greek yogurt for breakfast.