I sowed some Spring Onions last year and was quite disappointed when I pulled them up and realised that I'd sown a non-bulbing type (I didn't realise the difference when I bought the seed).
This year I've sown White Lisbon which I'm hoping will bulb. I sowed them on 16th March and had a quick look at one of them today, but they don't seem to be bulbing.
Have I don't something wrong with them, or am I too eager? The green at the top looks nice and thick and green.
Jo.
I carefully avoid the bulbing type - using Guardsman & Ramrod!!
But a few of those from last year are bulbing.
I've sown a row each of some of the Japanese ones: Ishikuro and Shimonita. The Shimonita is meant to end up looking like a leek.
[attachment=1]
That reminds me - better thin them out soon.
I have trouble understanding how spring onions work - my packets say sow in August - september for the next year. I sowed but they all seemed to disappear over winter :(
Can someone give some tips?
sow spring onions like you do salad crops, theyre not meant to have big bulbs anyway and mature pretty quick, spring onions arent for overwintering
Ishikuru - in my book- is a very good, pencil type onion.
Shimonita sounds exciting - but a lot of Spring Onion??
PS Just seen last post. Guardsman & Winter Over are winter tolerant. As said, we are still pulling last year's.
hmm so I should sow in, what, March? And pull up in June, July? I think it was White Lisbon I bought.
I start sowing White Lisbon in January and sow successionally pretty much all year until around October and I leave the last ones in the ground and pull as required over winter. They are ready anything between 6 and 10 weeks depending on when sown.
AH Ok. I have obviously failed to understand something along the way with spring onions!!
Maybe I will try sowing a little row now then and see what happens to them...
These are the May - June sowings.
One lot is my usual method - sowing in plugs of 10 or so before planting out.
Very few this year - few places without White Rot.
I just stuck a load of surplus sets in. I've got more to go in in the autumn. Scatter them an inch or two apart and they don't take up much space.
To use as Spring Onions, Robert?
That's right. They do it perfectly well, and I always manage to buy too many, so I don't want to waste the surplus.
My Oh tells me the ones I sowed beginning of may are just starting to fatten up now.
Antipodes, sow spring onions middle of September to stand the winter White Lisbon will stand through winter just as good as the over winter variety's.
Must say Tim I found Guardsman very good Ramrod not so good.
A lot depends on the quality of seed you buy that's why I always buy mine from Moles Seeds a much better grade of seed.
Here are some spring onions I lifted earlier. Perfectly good, as you can see.
Oh Robert,what big spring onions you have ;D
They're getting massive now, but so are the ones in the market.
I havent had much success with the spring onions Ive tried this year (my first attempts).
Ive tried direct sowing at my plot but the awful weather we had after the scorching sun earlier in the year killed most of them off.
I also sowed in tubs & these didnt do well either with spindly growth & very thin ends (no bulbing)...Im using them like chives so there arent being wasted.
I must admit Im not feeling confident about trying again with spring onions from seeds.
Think I will try Robert's suggestion next year.
But, Robert ..... those are Shallots? Not Salad Onions?
Splitting hairs but, to me, a big difference in flavour?
Not shallots. They're grown from the same sets as my maincrop onions. I do have some shallot sets, so I'll be trying to grow spring onions from them a bit later in the year.
I'm catching up - they just look like Shallots - all bulb. Or can you use the stem? Whichever, great to have some fresh stuff, but not the same flavour.
Quite often, bought onions sprout & the sprouts are quite useful to have in the freezer.
,
You were lucky to have some sets over - not cheap.
I use the lot. I bought sets from a different source this year, and I suspect they were smaller; I got 2 kg rather than 3, and still ended up with a load of spares.
Great suggestion Robert! I had a spare net of onion sets in the shed and have just dibbed them in for spring onions.
I grow what i was told are Russian onions, i was given a bunch a few years ago the bunch turned out like this[attachment=1]
Spot the difference Shallots and Russian onions[attachment=2]
End result for the Russian onions, the shallots got captured on the way home[attachment=3]
Great - but certainly no Shallots there!
Thanks for your replies.
OK, I'm at a total loss now. My spring onions were planted from seed, White Lisbon. So, you can actually sow spring onions from sets? Do they have a better 'bulb' to them?
I don't want huge onions to cook with, just something to go in my cheese sarnies :P
Sorry, daft questions I presume, novice here ::)
Jo.
Quote from: tim on July 04, 2008, 19:26:43
Great - but certainly no Shallots there!
The bottom bunch is Shallots Tim
Quote from: jo9919 on July 04, 2008, 19:34:47
Thanks for your replies.
OK, I'm at a total loss now. My spring onions were planted from seed, White Lisbon. So, you can actually sow spring onions from sets? Do they have a better 'bulb' to them?
I don't want huge onions to cook with, just something to go in my cheese sarnies :P
Sorry, daft questions I presume, novice here ::)
Jo.
JO TEE GEE and myself had a discussion on the Russian Onions and we concluded they are Welsh Onions, i called them Russian Onions cos they rushed all over the garden.
To stop your confusion.
SPRING ONION, Are grown from seed.
SHALLOTS, Are grown from sets
WELSH ONION. Are grown from transplants, you dig up a bunch take off what you want and put back what you dont want to grow on and multiply
Quote from: davyw1 on July 04, 2008, 19:55:50
Quote from: jo9919 on July 04, 2008, 19:34:47
Thanks for your replies.
OK, I'm at a total loss now. My spring onions were planted from seed, White Lisbon. So, you can actually sow spring onions from sets? Do they have a better 'bulb' to them?
I don't want huge onions to cook with, just something to go in my cheese sarnies :P
Sorry, daft questions I presume, novice here ::)
Jo.
JO TEE GEE and myself had a discussion on the Russian Onions and we concluded they are Welsh Onions, i called them Russian Onions cos they rushed all over the garden.
To stop your confusion.
SPRING ONION, Are grown from seed.
SHALLOTS, Are grown from sets
WELSH ONION. Are grown from transplants, you dig up a bunch take off what you want and put back what you dont want to grow on and multiply
Thanks for clarifying that for me.
So....back to my original question then, spring onions grown from seed, do they bulb up at all? My White Lisbon seem to have a bit of white at the bottom but aren't bulbing. Should I just leave them longer?
Jo.
JO, It depends on what Spring Onions you grow, White Lisbon do tend to bulb so dont grow them. I favor the Japanese Bunching onion like Shamoto or Isakura. which dont bulb.
i grew spring onions for the first time last year - ad in hindsight probably wasnt the best year to start! Anyway they germinated well but grew very slowly. So slowly in fact that from a summer sowing they were still not big enough to use come autumn. I basicaly gave up on them and left them in the ground all winter (no protection). Come the spring i wanted to clear the ground for replanting. The onions were still fine so rather than compost them they were harvested. Too tough for salads but they made a great soup!
The point is that by the time they were harvested they were not much bigger than the size I had expected them to grow to the previous summer. I guess they didnt like the dull wet summer last year.
I am trying them again this year and hoping for a much quicker crop this time. The thing i like about them the most though is, of all the crops I grow they are the most reliable germinating from direct sown seed. Other seed is very hit and miss, but spring onions always seem to come up.
PS: the variety was 'Guardsman' i think .
Quote from: Garden Apprentice on July 05, 2008, 12:20:33
The thing i like about them the most though is, of all the crops I grow they are the most reliable germinating from direct sown seed. Other seed is very hit and miss, but spring onions always seem to come up.
PS: the variety was 'Guardsman' i think .
I have only ever had one successful year with spring onions, and they were direct sown. That was on my previous plot - the same year I was clearing it! ???
KT. If you care to venture North along the coast road i could solve growing Spring onions for you. By the carrier bag full.
Quote from: davyw1 on July 05, 2008, 15:21:50
KT. If you care to venture North along the coast road i could solve growing Spring onions for you. By the carrier bag full.
Would love to, but the distance between us is too great at the moment. Working away......... Miles: 2730 Kilometers: 4411
Quote from: ktlawson on July 05, 2008, 15:31:45
Quote from: davyw1 on July 05, 2008, 15:21:50
KT. If you care to venture North along the coast road i could solve growing Spring onions for you. By the carrier bag full.
Would love to, but the distance between us is too great at the moment. Working away......... Miles: 2730 Kilometers: 4411
Sandpit, Just can,t get rid of the flipping things.
Sorry, Davy - thought you meant Shallot Shallots - not Spring Onion Shallots!
Tim, I did mean Shallots as in Shallots
[attachment=1]
And not Spring Onions as in Scallions
[attachment=2]
Just LOVE your pictures, but I still see your Shallots as more like Spring Onions than your 'ripe' photo!!
Whichever, I'm sure they are all enjoyed?
Quote from: tim on July 05, 2008, 20:17:48
Just LOVE your pictures, but I still see your Shallots as more like Spring Onions than your 'ripe' photo!!
Whichever, I'm sure they are all enjoyed?
I have to agree could be the way i grow them in depth about 4" and back filled as they grow to try and get more white.
Clever!
So - as one comes to realise, you're growing them as Spring Onions, rather than Shallots.
Fine, if they're from seed, but extravagant if from sets.
Keep at it - I'm only rattling on for fun!
White lisbon will only bulb if allowed to do so
I grew spring onions (white lisbon) by sowing them in a pot and tranplanting them into a raised bed with good results. I also left the pot (about a 5") with a number of seedlings and they grew in there too! About 12 spring onions from a 5" pot. From this experience I think I will be trying growing spring onions in a 10" pot next year and not bother with them on the plot.
Quote from: Sparkly on July 05, 2008, 20:36:40
About 12 spring onions from a 5" pot. From this experience I think I will be trying growing spring onions in a 10" pot next year and not bother with them on the plot.
I had this with radish after no joy on the plot. Will try it next year with spring onions too then. ;)
Quote from: tim on July 05, 2008, 20:34:11
Clever!
So - as one comes to realise, you're growing them as Spring Onions, rather than Shallots.
Fine, if they're from seed, but extravagant if from sets.
Keep at it - I'm only rattling on for fun!
HEHEHE Love it Tim, i can,t remember the last time i bought a Shallot Bulb.
Quote from: Richard Kinson on July 05, 2008, 20:35:52
White lisbon will only bulb if allowed to do so
How do you stop nature.
white lisbon sown in September should have been ready in Late may, but because of mild winter were ready for pulling in March
I had no joy with springys last year, and this year I had to re sow a whole line and even then only the middle third came through (white lisbon ) and are looking very healthy, I re sowed the other two thirds with laser and they came through ok. ;D ;D ;D
I do not know why but for some reason I always thought spring onions were fast croppers like radish until this thread, not 10 weeks plus. Lesson learnt..... RTFQ (or rather whats on the packaging instructions)
I don,t tend to bother with spring onion, i prefer the Japanese bunching onion. Sometime i wonder why i bother with them.
I thinned out the Welsh Onions this morning
This is what i transplanted
[attachment=1][attachment=2]
This is what i am giving away after swapping a bunch half the size for six Duck eg[attachment=3]gs
And this is what i have left. Why am i growing other onions. I am not well i tell you
Oh i forgot these two rows
You know your onions Davyw1 :)
A great gardener :)
How many in the Family, Davy?
Do you chuck them in & thin, or sow thinly?
And do you do Roast Spring Onions?
I must be the only one who/that finds their flavour quite different to/from any other onion.
Quote from: tim on July 06, 2008, 11:52:05
I must be the only one who/that finds their flavour quite different to/from any other onion.
You're not the only one Tim.
I find the taste of spring onions very different from other onions. I love them in a salad, but my favourite is on my cheese sarnies.
Jo.
Now - three guesses - they'll all be wrong!!