Is it possible to start onion sets & garlic off under cover. Greenhouse or cold frame. I've kept the garlic in the fridge, is this OK? Will they be OK in ground that has been newly manured but with very well rotted manure.
Janet.
Hi,grannyjanny.
Here's my thoughts on it .
It is possible but I think you stand to lose as much as you will gain.'
It won't be long before both of these can be set in the ground outside...
If you get your onion sets sprouting under protection then plant them outside and we get a cold spell it could check them and they would then be prone to running to seed..., Your garlic needs sowing 2 to 3 inch deep which makes it awkward to transplant, as your handling the growing tip'/stalk when doing it, so for what time your going to save you may be better waiting a while and setting it straight in ground.. ....See what others think..
Your fresh mucked ground should be fine for both of them.
I would bring your garlic out of the fridge a couple of days before you plant it .
There is a lot of truth in what Growmore says but why not try, say, ten onion sets in small pots in your cold greenhouse until they are full of roots, and after hardening off plant out in the same bed as those planted directly outside. That is what I am doing this year. I wouldn't bother fussing over the garlic.
I'm with Growmore on this one. Total waste of time. I would plant the garlic out as soon as conditions allow followed by the onion sets mid to late Feb onwards subject to prevailing conditions.
Sets and cloves planted outside can take a long time to put up visible green stuff but they will be busy forming a strong root system. Once the soil starts to warm up they are then in a good position to romp away.
Plant them outside, they'll be fine. Hurry up with the garlic, it needs the cold.
I always start my onion sets off in modules then transplant and they don't run to seed.
As regards garlic - it always goes straight into the ground.
As Robert says, garlic needs a period of cold - a month or more below 10C - so get it in now!