Author Topic: Spring onions how do you do it?  (Read 3193 times)

sunloving

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Spring onions how do you do it?
« on: August 23, 2016, 19:52:22 »
I'm terrible at spring onions I've sown them monthly since March inside and out and yet not a one is thicker than a shoe lace. So how does everyone else get from seed to salad in a season?

X sunloving

Duke Ellington

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Re: Spring onions how do you do it?
« Reply #1 on: August 23, 2016, 21:06:12 »
Try the sowing the seeds in modules method. I think someone on A4all mentioned this method a few years ago and it works for me. Sprinkle a pinch of seeds in each module seed tray in March/April. Cover lightly with compost. When they have reached a decent size and the weather is suitable I plant each individual module on the plot. As the spring onions continue to grow in their modular bunches you can either pull a bunch or tease out individual spring onions. The spring onions will get get larger and I then use them as shallots.
Hope this helps.
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squeezyjohn

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Re: Spring onions how do you do it?
« Reply #2 on: August 23, 2016, 22:08:44 »
Sunloving I know what you mean ... I haven't even tried sowing spring onion seeds for 2 years since having a disastrous season trying my hardest.  I think they're just very slow to get going, can get eaten by pests or outcompeted by weeds easily and even if you get some of the pen thickness ones you see in the shops then it hardly seems worth the bother for the crop you get.

However this year I grew all my regular onions from seeds - and basically it seems as if all onions go through a spring onion phase where they can be eaten as what the americans call green onions.  I started mine in a big deep 12" pot in January to get them going.  Divided the contents of the pot in to about 4 clumps and planted them out as just clumps once the weather got a bit spring like in March.  Only at the beginning of May did I plant them out individually and after 5 months growth they were still less than pencil thickness.  However in the summer heat they quickly grew and I realised they were too close together to make decent onions so I thinned them out when they were like big spring onions and hey-presto I could choose to leave the best specimens for storage onions and got a free crop of spring onions too from the same bed.  I realise this only gives you spring onions in the summer ... but it's a good way to do that.

For the other times of the year I have simply given up on real spring onions ... I have some interesting perennial onions which form clumps like chives but have more substantial stems to harvest as spring onions ... currently I'm not harvesting much as I'm trying to get enough by dividing each year to get a good permanent bed but this looks like it's working well.  The types I'm trying are as follows:

Giant chives (don't know the exact variety but they're much bigger than usual)
Everlasting onion (Allium Cepa 'Perutile') - a real everlasting clumping spring onion that doesn't flower at all
Hooker's Chives (Allium Hookeri) - delicious and unusual with light green glossy flat leaves - all parts can be eaten and they taste like onion with a hint of garlic - traditionally used in Sri Lanka and India to make onion bhajis but grow well here.

I think there may be some more I'm going to try to get but I can't remember the details at them moment.  These perennials seem to give something at all times of the year - I just need to multiply them up to try and get enough to have an all-year harvest!

sunloving

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Re: Spring onions how do you do it?
« Reply #3 on: August 24, 2016, 19:33:49 »
Thankyou both for some useful suggestions. Many of my onions have gone to seed this year and so I might try using the seed to see if I can make spring onions.
I wonder how they do it commercially.
Many thanks sunloving

bombus

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Re: Spring onions how do you do it?
« Reply #4 on: August 25, 2016, 16:02:01 »
I always keep the tiny spring onions well watered, and feed with a weak liquid feed every so often, always seems to work for me.

johhnyco15

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Re: Spring onions how do you do it?
« Reply #5 on: August 25, 2016, 16:37:32 »
sunloving i think you have just been unlucky on my plot i cannot for love nor money get a spring onion to germinate so i sow them in modules and now many a person on our site comes up to me to say how do you get to grow those spring onions  :drunken_smilie: :drunken_smilie: :drunken_smilie:
johhnyc015  may the plot be with you

galina

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Re: Spring onions how do you do it?
« Reply #6 on: August 25, 2016, 18:22:30 »
I have a couple of spring onion clumps.  They multiply if you leave them in and seed themselves and the rate I use them seems similar to the rate they multiply.  Same with Welsh Onions.  Haven't sown any for a long time.  They are perfectly winter hardy here.

I had a freebie packet and decided to sow this next to my carrots in spring, but hardly any have come up either.  I think sowing in modules is better too.  :wave:

Deb P

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Re: Spring onions how do you do it?
« Reply #7 on: August 25, 2016, 20:49:30 »
Yes modules are my m Seth i d too, I grow the bigger red florence onions and pull them at different stages to get a constant supply...
If it's not pouring with rain, I'm either in the garden or at the lottie! Probably still there in the rain as well TBH....🥴

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Paulh

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Re: Spring onions how do you do it?
« Reply #8 on: August 25, 2016, 22:06:05 »
On my clay soil, it's a late sowing of Japanese varieties, with a lot of luck (and no marauding slug or snail). I've some promising looking ones at the moment ...

ancellsfarmer

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Re: Spring onions how do you do it?
« Reply #9 on: August 26, 2016, 08:16:41 »
Plant as if leeks!
 The best way is to start them in a trough of good soil, transplant at the "pencil" size into good, soil, into 2" deep holes , pulled and planted. Do not worry about trimmiming tops or bottoms., but the loss of a root or two matters not. Water in and keep moist and fed.Pull as you need them, will grow to quite large if left.
Freelance cultivator qualified within the University of Life.

 

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