I have just dug up my onions - Red Barons. The tops were nearly all gone and was advised earlier by this forum to do this. Some of the onions are what I would call medium size but most of them are pretty small, having grown just a little from planting as sets. Can I use these littl'uns and if so is it OK to dry them in the airing cupboard as the ground here is still pretty wet?
What part of the country you in. The grounds like concrete in wilts :'( :'( Someone experienced will be along in a minute with the answers. I check mine over, use any with blemishes and put the rest in the potting shed.
I don't know what space you have for drying but the airing cupboard may be a little too warm.
Sorry that you did not get a harvest to suit what you want. We in the NW of England have had a wonderful year for onions but the east has been very dry so results, will be disappointing this year.
That is the way it goes. Growing your own can be a bumper harvest one year. Rot in the ground another year and poor results the next.
Thank goodness we are not dependant on our harvest to survive like our ancesters.
There are a lot of things you can do with them. Small onions have the same volume of flavour as a big one. The huge onion is full of water.
If you have in your family a lady who wears tights. Ask her to keep her tights after they are past their use by condition. Wash them then plop an onion in, force it to the toe. Tie a knot. Then the next onion and so on.
Same with the second leg.
A garage or shed will do well to hang this and when you want to use them just cut out an onion with scissors.
Peel and chop onions and freeze. Or make pickles/chutneys. Plenty of recipes on line.
I sting my onions and they go on nails on the back of the garage door. When the rubbish is cleared the expensive new car can be allowed it's space in the garage. Til then it stays on the drive.
That's great advice. It's my first year growing veg ( having just reached my own half century!) and it has been a mix bag of results. Have some tights somewhere (mine) so I think I'll use them as suggested. Will have about 20 onions+ but it's a start.
I live north of Norwich and it started off dry but have had so much rain this past month that the ground is really wet now. I've mentioned before that my potatoes look like triffids because of rain and too much shade. Couldn't resist a peek in the ground today and found a couple of potatoes straight away. Quickly covered them up again and now keeping my fingers crossed that all goes well til harvesting.
Had five brussel plants doing really well, til yesterday, when I noticed one of them is wilting fast. Can't see any reason why as the others are still doing well. So you can see, I'm getting use to this rollercoaster ride !! I love rollercoasters!!!
Yes there is an east/west divide. We are just a little older than you are.
The spuds are all dug up here and to be frank the smallest of the lot is the size the supermarkets sell for 'jacket potatoes'. Never had such a good crop. In fact the slugs usually get them before we do.
Half of our patch was proper seed potatoes and the other half was spuds we bought which started to sprout.
Next year, I wont get caught paying a rediculous price for seed potatoes. (I say that every year) I WILL only plant left overs from this year . Like people used to.
May be the harsh winter froze the slugs to death. RIP and good riddance if so. But my saved spuds did as well as my bought ones.
Plant early and lift early. That avoids the blight. 9th March they went in this year. A small bit of frost damage to a small area but it recovered.
If you are just starting growing your own then well done to you for getting something. Not every one does.
Quote from: fitzsie on July 24, 2011, 20:30:53
That's great advice. It's my first year growing veg ( having just reached my own half century!)
LOL love the half century ;D
Sounds like whatever your results, you are having a great time. growing your own is addictive ;) :)
Tried the onions in tights. That was the year that I grew quite large ones and the tights ended up rather loooong
Alot of mine were practically cooked to mush during the hot spring that we had here in Cornwall . Still have a few to save and store .