In the Genesis account of creation, God commands the trees and plants to be fruitful and multiply. The miracle of multiplication was brought home to me digging up some heads of garlic a couple of weeks ago. Where a single clove of garlic had been thumbed into the ground in November, there was now a cluster of cloves, maybe fifteen on a head. This garlic seemed different to the larger yellowish bulbs that are for sale in Dunnes Stores and travel all the way from China. The Finglas garlic is whiter with papery purple skins.
This year we are going to try and stretch the planting season. Joey and Seán have planted sets of red and white onions over the past couple of weeks and also winter spinach. I put down some leeks at the end of August. Now that the light decreases and we are for the dark days, it is comforting to think of the onions and garlic underground fixing to multiply.
