autumn planting onions and garlic

[antsuxx]

  Hello ,Iv bought my sets and garlics for planting , can you guys please advise the best time to plant out, Iv had conflicting advice, im in sussex but not coastal.
        Thanks for andy info,                 
                                        Ant

[antsuxx]

[goodlife]

You can start planting by end of this month..I usually put my garlic in end of october..begining of november.
But generally I would plant onion set bit earlier than garlic.

[gavinjconway]

Got my Senshu onion sets today - will plant in a few days and let them get the last of the summer before I put them into the Greenhouse for winter.

As above I agree that the Garlic end of October beginning of Nov is best..

[kt.]

I put all mine in 01 Sep but that is because I will be away later.  Hopefully they wont run to seed...... ???

[Stedic]

Excuse the stupid question!

Is the risk of planting too early that they run to seed?  I'd have thought that it just gave them all a good head start.

What overwintering varieties would you advise?  They'll be out all winter, so assume some varieties wouldnt cope with the snow.

[gavinjconway]

Senshu and Radar and another white onion - cant remember the name are all available now ish...

Will early planting go to seed?? I dont know if this is a problem that will happen. I've never tried so early as 1 Sept!!

[goodlife]

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Is the risk of planting too early that they run to seed? It can be...if you put your sets too early and should they put too much growth on before cold weather kicks in, all the green growth is going be the most 'sensitive' part of the plant and you can loose lot of set for rotting. Ideally you would over winter them with just little bit of green tips visible. Before the cold weather,those sets are mainly putting good root growth, ready for rapid growth in spring when weather warms up.
BUT..if they have been planted too early and they should make a lot of growth..once they weather warm up again those bulbs may 'think' that they've done their job and run to seed.
Of course it is all down to weather as well..most difficult job is timing..and that's why there is recommendations. You might get it right by doing  things 'wrong'..thats the joy of gardening.. ::)

[gavinjconway]

Goodlife- a good answer to the question... I hadn't thought about it in that way.. thanks

[cornykev]

Stagger them thats what I'm doing.   ;D

[Mrs Ava]

My onions, Radar, Electric and Biondie (or something similar) went in today, my garlic will go in by the end of the month.  Last year I left it later and had a rubbish crop, especially as I also have white rot to contend with. 

[gavinjconway]

I decided to plant yesterday... had a ferw spare hours so got them done.. And a neighbour brought me some Strawberry plants so had a busy afternoon...

[earlybirds]

hi where did you get onions and garliic i also live in west sussex billingshurst.

[Deb P]

I've had trouble getting hold of Jermor shallots this year, so ended up ordering them from here:
http://www.garden4less.co.uk/taylors-shallot-sets-jermor.asp
I received them in 24 hours (they are pretty local to me though) and they are Taylor's stock. They also stock several varieties of garlic which I have 'pre ordered' from them, stock expected soon.

I have ended up having to order my beloved Messidrome garlic from the evil empire (T&M) as I couldn't get it anywhere else, so also ordered some Edenrose garlic as well just to make it worth the while. They will turn up whenever T&M deign to send them to me I expect going on past from!

[antsuxx]

  Hi thanks   for all the usefull replies,iv decided to plant late.im away first  2weeks in October,
a good experienced friend suggested i wait till my return then plant weather permitting of course,#
     we  can only try!! thanks again,love this forum , so much info.
                                          :)

[tim]

Can't recall where we were talking about storage, but here's a timely reminder from the Horse's Mouth.

   Don't forget that keeping your garlic at room temperature is the best way to store it,  so be proud of your garlic and put it on display!

The way I do mine too.

[Mike J]

Probably a bit late to chip in on this one, but....I'm not going to do either this year, after several years of trying, as I never seem to get very good results. My Spring planted onions and garlic fare much better, are more productive (for me), and not that far behind the winter grown when it comes to harvesting time.

[tim]

My Onion sets go in March/April.

Trying Garlic once more - fingers crossed!.

Interesting - Solent Wight - my usual - had double the cloves of the others - Albigensian, Iberian & Early Purple.

[antipodes]

Yes, 4 years experience has now proved that I am best off:
planting garlic in November here (where it evidently is cold enough - last year planted in really cold period and that was not the best although I still got over 30 good heads!) - I have used supermarket garlic for 3 years now and will keep doing so as the results satisfy me.
End Feb - shallots go in
Through March - brown onions go in
End of March - red onions. All sets, haven't got anywhere to grow from seed as I live in a flat.

This year I got 3 wooden boxes full of onions and shallots and that is plenty for me for the year.
In a fit of optimism I am going to sow some Lisbon overwintering spring onions but I think it's really just to use up the packet of seed I have left, as I am sure that like in all other years, I will get zilch from them.