Was in Focus DIY at the weekend and spotted onion sets, being new to gardening i bought a couple of bags intending to plant out on my new allotment as the packaging showed planting them September to November - OK i thought.
In passing i mentioned to my father i had bought them to be told i had wasted my money as onion sets aren't planted at this time of year unless they are Japanese onions.
the two variates i got are Electric red and snow ball, both Alli um Ce pa.
can any one confirm whether or not i can plant these just now or have i wasted £5, well not wasted cause i got some garlic as well and i know i can plant that just now.
any help would be gratefully received.
Did the 'leccie red myself last year - they were good (still eating them now). Mild enough for salads. Definitely fine for overwintering although I thought this was a couple of weeks early?
when would you say is best for these to be planted?
thanks i,v been looking for leccy red ! focus you said i,m gone
I picked up a bag of this variaty myself today in nocuts for £1.49 which i though was a bargin for a big bag of maybe 100 sets.
I had planed on planting onion seed as well but this will give me a head start :-)
Quote from: cambourne7 on September 14, 2007, 21:08:43
I picked up a bag of this variaty myself today in nocuts for £1.49 which i though was a bargin for a big bag of maybe 100 sets.
I had planed on planting onion seed as well but this will give me a head start :-)
It will be very interesting to see how many of your sets "bolt"
£1.49 is a very cheap price to pay and in my opinion I dont think you will get good results.I doubt very much if they have been heat treated
I may well be wrong but good luck to you anyway.
WE have sets on sale at our lotty shop for 1 of your english pounds and you get 70 in your bag I'll be down getting me 2 or 3 or 4 bags in the morrow
Quote from: Fork on September 14, 2007, 21:12:33
Quote from: cambourne7 on September 14, 2007, 21:08:43
I picked up a bag of this variaty myself today in nocuts for £1.49 which i though was a bargin for a big bag of maybe 100 sets.
I had planed on planting onion seed as well but this will give me a head start :-)
It will be very interesting to see how many of your sets "bolt"
£1.49 is a very cheap price to pay and in my opinion I dont think you will get good results.I doubt very much if they have been heat treated
I may well be wrong but good luck to you anyway.
There heat treated and there market thompson and morgan....
I got my onion sets, garlic and shallots last Saturday.... all planted out in the cleared potato bed by Sunday! Along with a couple of rows of white lisbon spring onions.
OllieC - this year I have put them in a month earlier then normal, but I'm aiming for them to be about 6inches high come November
carls - did you sow the spring onions yesterday or plant? ta :)
Quote from: cambourne7 on September 14, 2007, 21:35:53
Quote from: Fork on September 14, 2007, 21:12:33
Quote from: cambourne7 on September 14, 2007, 21:08:43
I picked up a bag of this variaty myself today in nocuts for £1.49 which i though was a bargin for a big bag of maybe 100 sets.
I had planed on planting onion seed as well but this will give me a head start :-)
It will be very interesting to see how many of your sets "bolt"
£1.49 is a very cheap price to pay and in my opinion I dont think you will get good results.I doubt very much if they have been heat treated
I may well be wrong but good luck to you anyway.
There heat treated and there market thompson and morgan....
Sounds thought you may have a bargain then
mine arrived from T and M yesterday and will be going in this weekend when i can be bothered suffering from just finished nights apathy at the moment
I always wondered about planting onion sets just know as I thought it was best to turn the soil for the winter, si how do you plant sets if you have to to this.
Yes i am tempted to get more but i think that might be onion over kill as i have plenty of seed to go in this year as well.
My seeds/sets are not going into the ground for another 2 weeks till the beds ready.
I still have to add soil to the new beds (3beds 4ft by 8ft) and plant the bramble plants in the beds.
(onions (seed/sets) and garlic are planted around the bramble which will be sending roots down and will only be sending shoots up when the bulbs are 1/2 in and 1/2 out the soil so there should be no interferance.)
Once i have it planted i am covering with netting and forgetting till after christmas.
What varieties are people's favourites? I have a bit of space to put in a few for over-wintering. I am thinking 1 white onion 1 red. In addition, garlic. Which are reliable?
how long is a peice of string.
It realy depends on the soil and how you care for them, when there planted etc
Personaly if your in an established site i would speak to the allotment holders around you.
I thougth onion sets had to wait till spring. I think I'll go out and get some, as it will be nice to have them in while the lottie is a bit empty.
cj :)
I'm thinking the very same carolinej - we had to lift ours early this year, hence a lot of them are v small so perhaps some over wintered ones will boost our stocks. ;)
I have a related question about rotation, but will do a search and, if necessary, start a new thread 8)
Quote from: Sparkly on September 15, 2007, 23:11:10
What varieties are people's favourites?
I tend to just get what I can get hold of, although of the ones I have got hold of, Radar were the best overwintering performance. There tends to be less choice if you are reliant on local suppliers - most places will just have the one or one white and one red. A choice tends only to be available online - and then the cost seems to rise with postage on top.
mine from wilkos( red) did bolt I think they were not heat treated. Not sure of variety
Planted two rows today 1 kg bag for £1.50. ;D ;D ;D
I was happy to see your post redcanger as i am growing radar from seed ,never tried them before .got them from e-bay after my (ageing) jap onion seeds failed
I have found onions grown from seed rareley bolt
marg
Quote from: cornykev on September 23, 2007, 20:15:55
Planted two rows today 1 kg bag for £1.50. ;D ;D ;D
Cool where did you pick them up that cheap?
Localish pet shop, but don't know what variety they are. ??? ;D ;D ;D
electric red are good for overwintering - grown them twice now. though i wouldnt plant until november or december even. septemeber seems a tad early to me.
Our onion crop this year was awful. The overwintering Japanese onions got neck rot, and the main crop ended up not much bigger than the sets. We are going to run out much earlier than normal, so I planted some Japanese sets in the polytunnel a week ago to try to get some really early ones. Some of them are up an inch already.......
I had onion fly in the maincrop onions, but the overwintering varieties weren't too bad.