Skip to main content
Know your alliums
From elephant garlic to the sandwich onion, MAT COWARD is top of the crops

AS EARLY autumn harvests create gaps in the vegetable bed, it’s time to order onions, garlic, elephant garlic and shallots for planting in September and October.

All alliums that are grown through the winter need to go into open ground, where they won’t be overshadowed, to take advantage of the available light during the short days.

They must also be in soil that drains well, so that they’re not spending long periods sitting in puddles or saturated earth. Other than that, any ordinarily fertile soil will do.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
Savoy Italian cabbage. Photo: Goldlocki/CC
Gardening / 2 January 2026
2 January 2026

MAT COWARD takes a look at some of the options for keen gardeners as we enter 2026

(L to R) Flowering parsnip in its second year; Oven baked parsnip with honey and mustard / Pics (L to R): Pic: Skogkatten/CC Takeaway/CC
Gardening / 6 December 2025
6 December 2025

Commiserations if you failed this year, MAT COWARD offers six points which, if followed religiously, will ensure you succeed next year

Giant Winter / Pic: Krish Dulal/CC
Features / 6 September 2025
6 September 2025

MAT COWARD sings the praises of the Giant Winter’s full-depth, earthy and ferrous flavour perfect for rich meals in the dark months

(L to R) Wong Boks and a Chinese cabbage and tofu soup  Pics (L to R): Bayartai/CC and NeoBatfreak/CC
Features / 19 July 2025
19 July 2025

MAT COWARD presents a peculiar cabbage that will only do its bodybuilding once the summer dies down