It's not too late to get these totally invaluable crops planted in your garden.

Most folks go for an autumn plant out on these things, but you can still get away with doing so right up until the end of February; especially in the South of England, where I am fortunate enough to be.

GARLIC - 'Christo' & 'Flavor' I have found to be the most reliable to still form decent sized bulbs from a February plant out.

ONIONS - A good variety of sets are available in garden centres now for 'spring' planting. I like 'Stuttgarter Giant' and 'Sturon' - both seem good at not bolting.  'Red Baron' seems to be bolting on me more in recent years, despite heat treatment of the sets, so I am trying 'Marshall' this year which came out highly recommended in recent RHS trials.

SHALLOTS - I'm a fan of the longer french style shallots, over the round ones, which are a fiddle to slice.  'Longor' and Jermor' did very well for me last year, in fact, I've just used the up last of them so must remember to plant a few more this year!