How's your Onions ??

[Richard]

These are about a quarter of mine.

Like the Runner Beans of mine, very slow, but got there eventually.

Bit smaller this year though.

[center][/center]

How's yer Onions me mateys


Richard

[lancashire lass]

I was late planting the sets but surprisingly they did better than expected. Some small, some medium but a few extra large. Here in the midlands it has been on the dry side this summer so I think watering issues, but I think the soil fertility was hit and miss too. Overall, I'm happy

[Richard]

Interesting Lassie - do you firm the soil when putting in the sets ?

Richard

[lancashire lass]

Interesting Lassie - do you firm the soil when putting in the sets ?

Richard

No, I wouldn't firm the soil - the sets are not buried but gently nestled on the soil surface and loose sandy / top soil sprinkled on top which will eventually get washed off in the rain. The soil on my plot is heavy clay so compressing it would damage the delicate roots. Also, because the plot is at the bottom of the hill, during a wet summer it is at risk of flooding especially with the heavy soil and poor drainage. After the wet summer of 2012, I started making rows of mounds to plant the sets on top as standard and generally it worked well but ... if the season is dry, then soil moisture is too low with the added drainage - onions need water to assist with early bulbing up. I'd rather have smaller healthy bulbs than lose them to rot so I think I'll stick to this method but I need to think about watering them more often if the weather is drier.

[Richard]

Thank you Lassie, I have copied this to my Veggie Documents for a reminder next Spring.

Richard

[billnorfolk]

The problem is with the soil to firm ,as the roots go down they tend to push the set out of the ground .I like my soil as fluffy as i can get it ,i then use a very narrow trowel just to make an indention for the onion to drop in then as LL says sprinkle the soil around the top .I do net mine keeps Onion fly at bay and once the green shoots start to appear stop the birds pulling them out .Had several split into 2 this year ,still ok to use but don't store so well .


Certainly more smaller ones than usual.

[Richard]

Thanks Bill.

Definite try out next year.

I've been growing Onions for around 15 years and the best ever crop was the first one !!!

Richard