Author Topic: Perennial Onions  (Read 3418 times)

Robert_Brenchley

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Perennial Onions
« on: September 19, 2014, 20:28:04 »
http://thisandthat-robert.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/perennial-onions.html

I have Galina to thank for the Minogue and Everlasting Onion.

squeezyjohn

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Re: Perennial Onions
« Reply #1 on: September 19, 2014, 21:48:15 »
Interesting reading ... named after Kylie?  :happy7:

I was sent some true Potato Onion seeds from a guy called Kelly Winterton in the USA who has been breeding different varieties for years.  Of the 20 or so seeds he sent me only one survived to form a single white onion of good size.  I planted it out the next year and it became 5 nice white onions which are currently sat in a paper bag in my office ready for planting out next year!  I will taste what they're like next year! and save the 25 or so rest of the onions I get the next time round ... it's a frustratingly slow process getting them multiplied up to the kind of quantity you need to use them for cooking with!  4 years to get the hundred or so onions you need for self-sufficiency!

They are so worthwhile though ... so easy to grow ... reluctant to flower ... fairly decent sized onions in a smaller space ... and the one I grew seems to be slightly less prone to diseases etc. than the other more regular onions I grew alongside them.  I only hope the flavour is OK when I eventually taste one next year!

Silverleaf

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Re: Perennial Onions
« Reply #2 on: September 20, 2014, 00:44:05 »
Galina sent me some of those onions too - they are growing away nicely although they seemed to take an age to get established.

I was meaning to ask, do they need to be taken up and stored over the winter, or left in the bed? When do I divide them?

galina

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Re: Perennial Onions
« Reply #3 on: September 20, 2014, 15:11:00 »
Galina sent me some of those onions too - they are growing away nicely although they seemed to take an age to get established.

I was meaning to ask, do they need to be taken up and stored over the winter, or left in the bed? When do I divide them?

Fully winterhardy.  Divide them when the bed becomes too crowded.  Or eat and leave a few behind to regrow.  Thank you both for the feedback.

No, nothing to do with Kylie.  It is the family name of the donor, who originally gave them to the Heritage Seed Library.

My donor of the everlasting, non-flowering onion (allium perutile) was Goodlife - a great shallot-cum-spring onion and once established, very forgiving and so easy to grow.  Both types are great to bridge the gap between the end of stored onions and the harvest of new ones. 
« Last Edit: September 20, 2014, 15:16:28 by galina »

Silverleaf

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Re: Perennial Onions
« Reply #4 on: September 20, 2014, 18:28:51 »
Thanks Galina! :)

Robert_Brenchley

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Re: Perennial Onions
« Reply #5 on: September 21, 2014, 15:58:53 »
I found both of them grew like mad, so it's probably a case of local conditions. Onions do far better in my raised beds than they ever did in the open ground, for instance.

Robert_Brenchley

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Re: Perennial Onions
« Reply #6 on: September 21, 2014, 16:01:00 »
Good to hear about Kelly's potato onions, John. He's done a really good page on them, but I haven't come across his varieties myself.

goodlife

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Re: Perennial Onions
« Reply #7 on: September 21, 2014, 18:36:30 »
I found those 'everlasting onions' growing on my plot when I took it over, yeeeeears ago. There was just tiny little clump of them amongst tall weeds and few raspberry canes. One year I decided rescue them..dug the clump up and replanted them...never thought anything else about them other than they were weird for not flowering at all  :drunken_smilie:
I thought they were some sort of 'mystery chives' :glasses9:
Then one day I started the clump again....divided it all and HEY PRESTO!...they were starting fatten up and showed their true nature! Not a chive but 'spring oniony thingy'! :icon_cheers:...later on finding out what they were 'called'.

Robert_Brenchley

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Re: Perennial Onions
« Reply #8 on: September 22, 2014, 09:29:11 »
I've acquired a second variety of pearl onion in a similar way; they were just stunted little things passed on by another pltholder. You never know what's going to turn up next!

squeezyjohn

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Re: Perennial Onions
« Reply #9 on: September 22, 2014, 14:59:23 »
Good to hear about Kelly's potato onions, John. He's done a really good page on them, but I haven't come across his varieties myself.

I don't think he's allowed to send live tissue (which onions are) overseas ... but if he has some seeds - he's allowed to send those.  His varieties seem to only be available in the USA and Canada and anything you grow from seed will be somewhat different genetically.

It will be several years until the five I have can be multiplied up in to the kind of numbers where I can start to give them away as new starts for people - but that's the plan (provided they don't taste horrible!)

 

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