poundland onions and shallots

[Nora42]

Hello I popped into poundland on Friday and picked up some onion and shallot sets for £1 each not the biggest quantity but I am new to onions and so it will be ok - advise is that you can start them in February but how long can i keep the before I plant them out and do they need shelter  greenhouse accomodation. I think I am going to put them into modules and not striaght into the ground.
thanks Nora

[Nora42]

[ed dibbles]

Open the bags the onion sets are in and place them on a flat seed tray or something similar. They will be ok for a couple of months like that.

Plant them out in the veg plot in march when the ground is warming up. No need to put them in modules in the G/H or plant them in wet soil. (doing so will increase the risk of them bolting).

Keep them weed free and harvest them at the end of july or in august.

The shallots, however can be module planted now.

The poundland ones grow just fine - belive me!

[Digeroo]

I grew some cheap poundland onions last year and they did better than more expensive ones.  They turned out to be a mixture which I quite liked.

Another vote here for throwing them straight into the soil (the right way up).  It was the second thing I put in my lottie when I started five years ago ( after a pot of tesco parsley). So now I always start my onions second week in March and they have done well for past four years.

I net them to guard against pigeons, rabbits, deer etc or whatever it is that digs them up and nibbles the growing tip.

[euronerd]

I've had more success growing them in modules in the greenhouse. It gives them chance to develop a bit of a root system so when you plant them out, they're less likely to be nicked by birds. It also avoids your battling with nets and canes in the sort of weather we can expect until June although they do get thirsty when they start to grow, and need a daily watering. If you do decide to net, make sure it's high enough or the birds will just gather on top of it until there's enough of them to make it sag far enough to reach your onions.

And another vote here for Poundland.

Geoff.

[Flighty]

I grow onions from sets that I'll be planting out directly mid/late March onwards. I don't net them, and any that the birds lift are just gently pushed back.
I only water if it's really dry.
My Flighty's plot blog post today is Onions are the vegetable... - http://flightplot.wordpress.com/2013/01/27/onions-are-the-vegetable/

[Vinlander]

If the birds are looking delinquent then I put old glass (even big shards) on the soil over the drills.

Onion sets always come up and run along under the glass - and by then you can be sure they are too well-rooted for the birds to pull them.

Fortunately slug damage is very small- scale (but don't use this method for any other crop).

After you remove the glass they all lift straight up and within a week you'd never know they were ever horizontal.

It's especially good to use the glass if you are going on holiday - you know that they'll be absolutely fine for 2 or 3 weeks.

Cheers.

[Robert_Brenchley]

Poundland or 99p shop always do well for me. They're fine for onions or spuds, I'm wary where plants or flower bulbs are concerned.

[lottie lou]

Poundland or 99p shop always do well for me. They're fine for onions or spuds, I'm wary where plants or flower bulbs are concerned.

Why?  I have found their lily bulbs very good.  Freesias a bit tempermental though. 

[cornykev]

I put my onions in the end of Feb weather permitting straight into raised beds, there's not so many Shallots so I give them a head start in modules then straight into the raised beds. As said take them out of the bags or they will rot   

[Toshofthe Wuffingas]

A couple of days back I picked up at Poundland one moderate sized box of organic potato fertiliser, a modest bag of onion sets. some double freesia bulbs, a calla lily bulb and three different paeonies that are starting to shoot.
£7.00

[Robert_Brenchley]

Poundland or 99p shop always do well for me. They're fine for onions or spuds, I'm wary where plants or flower bulbs are concerned.

Why?  I have found their lily bulbs very good.  Freesias a bit tempermental though.

Because they're often in the warm for too long. I've had bulbs which were dead, and plants which were so exhausted they didn't survive.

[Nora42]

hey thanks for all your comments I am not having a good week we all have been laid low by Noro virus - not much going on around here but washing!
Sets are out of their bag and lying in a flat box untill I get my strength back, and my will to live.
Nora 

[powerspade]

Dont bother going by the book plant out when the weather is right