Notes

Planting garlic before the frost

Garlic goes in about four weeks before the ground freezes. I separate the bulbs a day ahead, keep the biggest cloves, and plant them pointy end up, five centimetres deep and fifteen apart.

A layer of straw on top keeps the soil from heaving. In spring the green shoots come up faster than anything else on the plot.

Tomatoes on a north balcony

Everyone says it cannot be done. With one hour of direct sun the big beefsteaks stayed green, but the small yellow cherry type ripened steadily from August to the first cold nights.

• Pots of at least twenty litres
• Water in the morning, never at night
• Remove side shoots weekly

The compost bin, honestly

My first bin was too wet and full of grass clippings. Adding torn cardboard and turning it every Sunday fixed the smell within two weeks.