Topic: overwintering onions - ready?

[Deb P]

sorry I can't let you slip that one past - walking onions? from egypt? Do tell more.

 ;D They are not Egyptian (can't remember where they actually originate from, I'm sure someone will remember!), but they do 'walk'.....they produce little bulbils at the top of the flower stalks, and then the stems bend over and the bulbils take root and become new plants...hence they 'walk' over time! You can eat the main bulbs, and use the bulbils in stir fry's etc...I'm building up my stock of plants so I'll be saving my bulbils to grow on.

Update..I had a google....either African or Asian origin, seems to be a bit of a debate as to their origins...... :-\

[Robert_Brenchley]

Walking onions produce little bulbs at the top of the stem where the flower ought to be, and the stem flops over, putting them in away from the original plant. Hence 'walking'. Mine are just beginning to produce the bulbs; I should haver plenty going a bit later in the year.

[Meg]

My onions are looking good and am starting to eat them. ONe of my oracles at the lottie says to eat them as spring onions and they are nice in a salad and he is right as ever bless him.

[pigeonseed]

thanks for the explanation - it makes sense!

[pigeonseed]

so what goes wrong with onions if they flower then?

[lin]

My winter onions that I planted last October are sprouting flower heads so I am pulling and eating them. Although they are smallish, they are really tasty, not as hot as onions I plant in the summer, much more of a delicate flavour, so its great.

I pull one or two and eat them every day and meanwhile the ones I planted in early March are coming along nicely for later in the year....! It works well and I am going to do the same next year... forget planting spring onions, these overwintered ones are twice as good...Lin

[Robert_Brenchley]

If they flower you get a massive great stalk up through the middle, a lot of energy goes into the flower rather than the bulb, and it won't keep.

[pigeonseed]

ok i recognise that from shallots during dry years.

I think I've rescued my onions then because the flowers were just starting and i pulled those onions, we ate two of them in a curry last night and they were nice. Not as sweet and tasty as shallots though.

[umshamrock]

do you guys water your overwintered onions? i don't water - and yours are all much bigger than mine...

[pigeonseed]

i did water yes, but i do have very fine dry soil. I've been improving it slowly with compost over a few years, but it still tends to turn to dust if it doesnt rain for a couple of days.

so , I don't know whether or not your soil needs the watering.

I did also put in rotted manure and compost when i planted the sets and added it as a mulch later as well. Perhaps that helped fatten them up?

Some people say some years are good for fat onions and some years are bad. why taht should be i don't know...

[Curryandchips]

I never water outside except when transplanting ...

Don't turn your nose up at small onions, generally they will be stronger, so can be more useful when cooking ... :)

Derek :)

[Grant]

Ours look big enough, but still green and some middle seed stalks.  I have just broken off the seed stalk and bent the the rest of the stalk over.  think if you plant too close like those in the raised beds will tend to be small.

[pigeonseed]

I never water outside except when transplanting ...

Don't turn your nose up at small onions, generally they will be stronger, so can be more useful when cooking ... :)

Derek :)

I agree, I'm not a fan of big watery onions either. But if the soil is very fine and the weather stays dry for a long time, you can end up with onion so small and papery that you need a microscope to peel and chop them. If you start from sets - then basically you might as well have eaten the sets and had done with it!

[asbean]

Saw this in GW a couple of years ago

[Tora]

My Senshyu onions are bulbing up nicely but my Silver Moon onions bolted and they are not bulbing up anymore even though I removed flowering stems when they were just showing. :(

I found that shallots are much better if you want a keeping quality. My Red Sun shallots from last year are still in very good condition. They were easy to grow as well.
I think I'll plant a lot more shallots next year and less onions... :)

[Robert_Brenchley]

My overwintering onions are bulbing up nicely, as are the walking onions, but the shallots are pathetic as always. Maybe I should grow more walking onions instead.

[pigeonseed]

I love shallots. They are very tasty and easy to grow, I've found.

But Robert, you say your shallots are 'pathetic as always' - what's gone wrong with them?

Maybe you could get some shallot rescue advice on here.

[Robert_Brenchley]

I've never had any joy with them at all. All my other alliums bulb up nicely, shallots are planted in exactly the same way, in autumn, and end up as tiny little things that are hardly worth peeling. It's irritating, but there are plenty of alternatives available.

[Tora]

Maybe you should try planting shallots in spring, Robert? I planted my Red Sun in April and had a very good crop. All I did was plant and ignore them! :D

My Senshyu onions started bolting as well by the way... :(

[Robert_Brenchley]

Maybe. I planted one lot late (about Christmas time) this year; they were growing roots pathetically, and hardly any of them came through. I'll see what they're like when I lift them, but the amount of foliage doesn't look hopeful.