Allotments 4 All
Produce => Edible Plants => Topic started by: caroline7758 on July 20, 2014, 14:49:18
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How do you know when they are ready? They've taken so long from seed that I don't think I'll bother again, but would like to at least lift them at the right time!
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They are, indeed, slow growing caroline. I would suggest cropping when the bases start to swell.
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Mine were looking good, then a mollusc chomped through them ... However, they are regrowing so I may get something yet. I find the Japanese varieties do better than the usual ones but even so they are really slow this year.
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I found spring onions really slow and difficult to grow for not much reward for years ... but then I discovered bunching onions!
Bunching onion type Ishikura has been an eye-opener! They take as long to get going, but divide and make bunches like spring-onion chives and keep going as a patch right through winter with a bit of protection. Instead of pulling the onions whole with their roots - cut them off at ground-level and they'll make another one in place of the one you've picked! They're absolutely brilliant.
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I found spring onions really slow and difficult to grow for not much reward for years ... but then I discovered bunching onions!
Bunching onion type Ishikura has been an eye-opener! They take as long to get going, but divide and make bunches like spring-onion chives and keep going as a patch right through winter with a bit of protection. Instead of pulling the onions whole with their roots - cut them off at ground-level and they'll make another one in place of the one you've picked! They're absolutely brilliant.
Thanks- will definitely make a note of those for next year!
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I grow mine in modules then plant them out in their module clumps...they grow like shallots then and I just pick the biggest ones and leave the rest to keep growing.
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I would love to have spring onions but have never managed them... I would love those big bulbed onions with green stems that you get in bunches here. I don't even know what is the right variety... Any tips anyone? Bit late for this year I know - I have tried those Lisbon onions that you sow after the summer but could never get them to germinate properly.
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Have you tried either 'pink torpedo' or Florence long red onions? I grow these and use them as spring onions when small, and if you leave some to grow on they are like banana shallots!
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I would love to have spring onions but have never managed them... I would love those big bulbed onions with green stems that you get in bunches here. I don't even know what is the right variety... Any tips anyone? Bit late for this year I know - I have tried those Lisbon onions that you sow after the summer but could never get them to germinate properly.
If you grow any white onion from seed then you can simply pick them at that stage and they will taste the same as the ones you get on the markets. They take ages to get to that stage though - you can plant them closer together than if you were growing for full sized onions.
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I grew apache this year and they've been good.... same module technique as DebP, they can start off in teh GH in January/Feb adn be planted out in troughs or big pots too... I'm about to sow some more for late-season cropping.... wish me luck...
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If you grow any white onion from seed then you can simply pick them at that stage and they will taste the same as the ones you get on the markets. They take ages to get to that stage though - you can plant them closer together than if you were growing for full sized onions.
Ah maybe that is where I am going wrong... I did actually manage some onions (brown) from seed this year! They are still small but I am reasonably chuffed with my experiment. I started them in January in a planter hanging off my window! I fleeced them and they did actually germinate, then I planted them out in clumps. Maybe I will do that next year but with white onion seeds!!!
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Been the best year for seed grown onions for me this year. The trick seems to be to hurry them along by giving warmth/light/space/feed in varying proportions and preferably all at the same time. They do seem to sit and dawdle if left alone so need the whip cracked a bit. (Not literally!)