Allotments 4 All

Having got my overwintering onions in (combination of seed and sets) my thoughts are now turning to which main crop onion variety to try next year...

Recommendations welcomed for seeds and sets!

I had good results with Red Baron from seed this year. Sown about early February in seed trays, and planted out on 17th March.

We've used Marshalls Fen Globe heat-treated sets for a decade or two.

Jenny M - I always do Red Baron from sets but will try from seed this year...

Tim - I can't find Fen Globe sets on the Marshall's website - http://www.marshalls-seeds.co.uk/rkmain.asp?PAGEID=20671 are there more varieties available in their seed catalogue? Pleased to see they do Electric sets though. They did well for me last year and I couldn't find them anywhere this year...until now!

Not sure what I am doing with onions this coming year. I have a massive crop already, so hope to be well stocked up until April ...
I have not seen any overwintering sets in Wilkinson's where I normally buy them, so may end up not getting any. I would only be planting reds anyway for the summer salads. Other than that, I have tended to take what is available, going for globe varieties rather than flat ... I had massive yields this year, which didn't favour any particular varieties ...

Well that's not bad for a post that tells you absolutely nothing ! ! !  ;D

Derekthefox :D

tm-

My new fen globes over the past two years have been dreadful. This year I got one MASSIVE onion and about 90 that are only fit for pickling. 2003 was fantastic - the first year I grew them.

Marshalls were also very late in sending them out and they hit the May cold patch straight on.

I am buying whatever our allotment shed sells this next season, as everyone who got theirs last season had whoppers.

moonbells

I've planted Radar sets every autumn for the last 3 years, and they've been excellent, really pleased. Lottie

I have just bought 50 Japanese Radar (must get more) sounds like they are a winner thanks Lottie ;)

BTW I nearly bought some Senshyu onions anyone growing these and what are they like, are they worth a try?

LOL!! Yes, Roy, me!! No idea, first year of trying them!! But fingers, toes, ears and anything else I hadn't thought of crossed...... ;D

Centurion was very good for me this year

We're getting Turbo from our lotty association this year but know nothing about them..  I got my J onion sets from lotty shed last year and they were fab but I don't know what variety they were.  I just got them in an unlabelled bag which is most unhelpful  :)  Oh well, they were great so I have no hesitation in lotty shed guys make the decision

Just found I can buy reds from our local market, a kilo should be enough, perhaps 1 1/2kg just to be sure. No idea what variety they are though ... I just plant them ... then eat them ... then plant more ...

Derekthefox :D

From seed, Red baron, definitely recommend them

Mikeb

i can recommend www.mammothonion.co.uk, got garlic and onions from there. cant wait to plant out soon :)

In the Spring, I bought a bag each of "Home and Garden" reds and giant onions from Instore in Totton, Southampton.  (I believe they are the same chain as Poundstretchers).  I paid £1 each for the bags which had 75 in each set.  
They were both Dutch onions and the red ones were "Red Barron".  I haven't got the planting instructions for the giant ones to know the exact variety.

What I can say though, is that we have had a magnificent crop.    ;D ;)

The soil they were grown in is very alkaline and was fertilised the previous year by my chickens.  The onions received water from a sprinkler for a short duration in the middle of the night and we did some hoeing when we had the time.  In the end, the weeds were a bit out of control but they didn't seem to affect the yield.

We will definitely be growing these again as we have not been very successful with other onions in the past and I would recommend these varieties to others, especially those people who garden on chalk.  

I have always done well with Sturon onion sets...Onions like an alkaline soil i always try to get my onion bed somewhere between PH7 to 7.8  I use garden lime for this.
Her is a bit  of info off web regarding using lime...


Lime is normally added to acid soils to increase soil pH. The addition of lime not only replaces hydrogen ions and raises soil pH, thereby eliminating most major problems associated with acid soils but it also provides two nutrients, calcium and magnesium to the soil. Lime also makes phosphorus that is added to the soil more available for plant growth and increases the availability of nitrogen by hastening the decomposition of organic matter. Liming materials are relatively cheap, comparatively mild to handle and leave no objectionable residues in the soil.

cheers Jim.

"

I ordered tto few radar for the shed this year so alos got senshyu in. I'm planting some of each for a direct comparison. My main crops this year were Stuttgart, Sturon and Turbo sets with no significant difference in yields. For reds I had Red Baron from sets and Brunswick from seed. Again no real difference in size but the seed grown ones were less prone to bolting.

Knowing nothing at the start of the year ( and lots about how not to do it now!)  I just bought what caught my eye.  On the onion front that mean Turbo and they performed pretty well I think given they were thrown in a space and left to get on with it!    I can't remember when I planted them but they were of average size and taste really good (pic below) but note the small ones were REALLY abused and planted in July!.  I will be planting them again this year.

Hi All
Ill be trying Ailsa Craig from seed next year but also going to try Senshyu sets when they arrive see how they do.

I grew Senshyu from seed once and I recall they were rather good  :)  We're getting Turbo onions sets via the lotty this year and I'm hoping they are as good as the Sturon we got last year