GARDENING WITH DIRTY NAILS: SEPTEMBER, 1ST WEEK WINTER ONIONS September is the month to plant winter onion sets, widely available and alternatively known as ‘autumn onions’. The ’Radar’ variety gives consistently good returns, toughing out the harshest winter, swelling up in spring and ripening for harvest in late May. They do not store for very long, unlike maincrops, but are a valuable early crop.

Onions like a sunny position and firm root-run. Dirty Nails prepares his onion bed a few days in advance of planting. He lightly forks over the selected plot and scatters handfuls of wood ash over it. He aims to dust the soil thinly but evenly. He then rakes the bed level and to a crumbly tilth, then treads it down again before raking some more. The sets are planted at 6 inch (15 cm) intervals with a foot (30 cm) between rows. Straight rows are much easier to look after than wonky ones, so Dirty Nails always uses a line of string tied between two sticks to mark them out. He makes a little planting nest for each one with his finger so as not to damage the acorn-sized miniature onion as he pushes it into the soil. Using both hands, he uses his thumbs and first-finger knuckles to secure each set, leaving the top of the bulb exposed. Sprouting roots can lift them out if they are not nestled in snugly. There is little else to do apart from keeping moist and weed-free, watch and wait.

For Dirty Nails growing veg is about more than just eating food. He completed his Radar onion planting in fabulous ’Indian summer’ weather as a vast, shape-shifting gathering of house martins and swallows worked the insect-rich skies above. Being an active piece in the web of life, and feeling in tune with the rhythm of the seasons, is all part of the magic.

THE PRO’S AND CON’S OF USING PEAT Peat is partially decomposed plant debris and is located in bogs and moors. These are basically cool, water-logged environments. Taking thousands of years to form, peat is arguably the best growing medium for cultivating seedlings of a wide range of plants. It is stable, long lasting, well aerated, moisture retentive and an extremely popular choice in the greenhouse or shed as potting compost.

However the peat industry for horticultural purposes has been responsible for the destruction of 94% of British peat lands in the latter half of the 20th century. These areas are, coincidentally, home to a range of rare or specialised plants and animals which are threatened by this habitat loss: carnivorous plants such as sundews, butterworts and bladderworts, nightjars (summer visiting relatives of the woodpecker) and many species of weird and wonderful insects.

There is also a global-warming issue linked with peat extraction. Being plant matter, a vast amount of carbon is locked up in peat. When it is removed and used, this carbon is released into the atmosphere which enhances the ’greenhouse effect’. The quantities of carbon contained herein, and potential damage caused by its liberation, should not be underestimated.

NATURAL HISTORY IN THE GARDEN: SLOW WORM BABIES September is the prime month for slow worm babies to be born. Females hold their eggs internally until virtually the point of hatching, whereupon they deposit 6 to 12 fully developed youngsters in a thin, transparent shell that breaks open almost immediately. The 2 inch (5 cm) long legless lizards are beautiful black and gold slivers of muscle the thickness of a knitting needle. Completely independent, they start feeding on tiny slugs straight away. ‘How to Grow Your Own Food’ by Dirty Nails (How To Books: ISBN 978-1-905862-11-5) is available at bookstores and www.dirtynails.co.uk , priced £10.99.