After harvest garlic bulbs need a period of 6 to 8 weeks hanging to dry in a warm place away from direct sunlight. Once the bulbs have cured it’s time to clean them ready for kitchen use or replanting.

With a sharp pair of scissors cut the roots off the bulb, as close to the bulb as possible. Loosen any soil that remains lodged in the roots and shake it off. Gently rub the outer skin of the bulb away to remove any soil, leaving as much wrapper skin as possible, as this prolongs storage.

If the variety is a rocambole garlic (hard neck) the cloves will be larger, but the seed stalk too stiff for braiding. Hard necks will store in a cool dark place for up to 9 months. Soft neck varieties have pliable stalks more suitable for braiding, as they do not put out a seed head. They often have smaller cloves, but will last up to 12 months in storage. Braids of soft neck garlic adorned with dried flowers are a lovely way to hang garlic for kitchen use. These also make a great gift from the garden.

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Allow me to introduce you to Amos & Abigail my new Muscovy ducks.

They are six weeks old and left their Mama a week ago. I have never had ducks before, so now I know I am going quackers! Next week we will let them free range in the lasagna gardens because they are the best slug hunters. We have converted an old doghouse into a duck house so that each night they will make their way home for protection.

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I was skeptical when I saw ‘Latah’ tomatoes hailed as ‘the world’s earliest’. As I grow 45 different tomato varieties, I decided to put them to the test! Sure enough last year they were the first to ripen sweet red tomatoes by a week, and this year they have done it again by two weeks, both in the greenhouse and the garden! Every one I gave seedlings to confirmed ‘Latah’ as the earliest in their gardens too, so I think I am onto something!

My greenhouse is full of containerized tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and basil plants. Last week I noticed a cloud of whiteflies hovering around some of the plants so I made yellow sticky traps to hang nearby. A week later they have done the trick in getting rid of the problem.

All you need is some cardboard inside a yellow plastic bag (or some bright yellow paper) that has been smeared with Tanglefoot™. The whiteflies are attracted to the yellow colour and get stuck on the trap. It’s simple yet very effective!

I have since stripped some of the older and larger leaves off the tomato plants to open up the maturing fruits to the light and to allow air to circulate more freely, which helps get rid of whitefly problems too.

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Here’s a stunning sight – ‘Siegfried Frost’ leeks going to seed. I love this sight in my garden almost as much as the bees do!

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These ‘Rescue’ pears will be the first to ripen on my 5-grafted pear tree. The other 4 varieties ripen later at different times, which is perfect for extending the season for bottling, drying and eating them fresh.

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I am only one week away from opening The Garden Path for my annual winter vegetable sale. The packs we seeded in the beginning of July are looking full and are now ready for transplanting into the garden.

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‘Green globe’ artichokes grow quickly from seed and will produce edible flower heads the same year. Each year new offsets will produce more flowering heads, so it just gets better and more stunningly beautiful if you leave them to go to seeds as I am doing. Now this is what I call an ornamental edible!

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This was a good year for potatoes in my garden. They relished the cooler conditions and moist soil in the early part of the year. When the tops die back you can harvest the potatoes. German fingerlings are thick-skinned with buttery flesh and make the best summer potato salad.

The Garden Path Potato Salad
2 lbs new potatoes, cooked ‘til just tender, cooled and chopped
1 sweet white onion, minced
1 small cucumber, chopped
2 dill pickles, sliced (or 1 tsp. capers)
2 hardboiled eggs
2 tsp. dill
1 tsp. salt
½ tsp. black pepper
3 Tbsp. mayonnaise
Toss all together and chill in refrigerator.

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August in my garden means bountiful bean harvests. Usually the broad beans or favas mature first, but this year the garden is late and ‘Sweet Lorane’ favas and snap beans are ripe at the same time. These later maturing favas (above) are very prolific, which means we can enjoy them shelled fresh and also freeze lots for winter meals.

Runner bean 'Painted Lady' (also known as the York & Lancaster bean; above) is a heritage variety worth growing for its pretty red and white flowers and large crops of tender flavourful beans. It’s the only bean that has bi-colored flowers.

Dragon Tongue bush beans (above) are simply gorgeous! They can be eaten fresh as snap beans and left for dried beans.

Vanguard Beans (above) grow on sturdy bushy plants that do not require staking even though they are loaded with stringless tender beans.

Beans are easy to grow. They are drought tolerant, and the more you pick them the more they produce. Freeze extras for winter meals, then all you have to do is throw them frozen into boiling water for exactly ten minutes to recapture the month of August in your garden.

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Gardening with wildlife has opened my eyes to new ways of enhancing the health of my garden. Broad-spectrum insecticides can be fatal to wildlife, but encouraging healthy populations of beneficial insects in the garden makes it unnecessary to use such products.

Plants that Lure Beneficials:

• Achillea filipendulina fern-leaf yarrow attracts lacewings and ladybugs.
• Agastache foeniculum anise hyssop has nectar-rich flowers that are very attractive to both butterflies and pest-eating beneficial insects.
• Anthemis tinctoria golden marguerite, produces bright-yellow daisies very attractive to five key kinds of beneficials – ladybugs, lacewings, flower flies, tachinid flies and mini-wasps.
• Borago officinalis borage with bright-blue clusters of edible, cucumber-flavoured flowers. Common green lacewings have a strong preference for laying their eggs on borage.
• Centaurea cyanus cornflower or bachelor button has nectar highly attractive to ladybugs, lacewings and beneficial wasps.
• Foeniculum vulgare fennel has flowers extremely attractive to nectar-feeding beneficial insects such as parasitic wasps, lacewings and hoverflies.
• Lobularia maritima sweet alyssum is highly attractive to syrphid flies, the larva of which eat dozens of aphids daily.
• Phacelia tanacetifolia bee frien) has lovely purple-blue flowers irresistible to hoverflies and bees.
• Salix spp. pussy willows are especially valuable because they produce pollen early in spring, when many beneficials are just emerging.

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