Would i be ok to plant our onions this weekend?
Thinking of taking the rotovator down and sorting the beds out for the onions (they were rotovated in The Autumn but could just do with going over ago
From what i remember you can plant onions early, We would normally plant them in March but i am tied up for a couple of weekends then
We planted ours yesterday, not long to March ;D
Quote from: manicscousers on February 16, 2012, 21:35:05
We planted ours yesterday, not long to March ;D
In they shall go this Sunday!!
Mine wont be going in until mid - late March.
I have to get my onion seedlings out, in the kitchen they are starting to look unhappy. I will fleece them for now.
I will also be planting echalote this weekend and the first of the brown onions. I will wait a couple of weeks for the red ones.
Weather looks good for it, only a little frosty on Monday but daytime temps around 8 or 10 deg after that and a bit of light rain. Just right to get them started off!
The garlic is up and survived the very cold snap. The echalotes I planted in November didn't seem to make it though (well nothing has shown yet). I will get a few replacements in for those.
mine will go in middle of march...theres no rush to plant..still got lots left from last season.
Quote from: jimtheworzel on February 17, 2012, 12:18:36
mine will go in middle of march...theres no rush to plant..still got lots left from last season.
We have loads left to. They have kept very well this year
Starting mine in cells tomorrow. Stops the birds nicking them if they have a few roots when I put them out.
ive had mine in a tray of compost for about a month in the greenhouse lets them get started and when you plant out the birds dont pull them up
ive just potted up my two exhibition onions that grew in dec
and my leeks are in a tray on the kitchen window next to my onions
Phil, don't just push them into the ground, this consolidates the soil below their root plates. Dig a little 'ole and drop them in. Cover with mesh to keep the birds from pulling them out again as they search for bugs. ::) Cheers, Tony.
Quote from: antipodes on February 17, 2012, 11:11:21
The garlic is up and survived the very cold snap. The echalotes I planted in November didn't seem to make it though (well nothing has shown yet). I will get a few replacements in for those.
the onions i planted in nov have shown no signs of growth at all, and am wondering whether it was the haphazard warmer weather we had in first few weeks and not enough rain.
garlic's done a lot better recently than in nov time. only one variety came up and then slowly the other varieties have managed to make an appearance lately.
what do most ppl do with their onion and shallot sets - plant them straight out or grow in modules first? i'm in notts and as i'm still a beginner of these things (last yr was a success, but a lot of weekly weeding tho'! but not such a success in storage, i'm afraid ::))
i store mine on the shed roof [flat roof] in a wire tray covered by a piece of wood to keep dry ......and it works for me fine
Quote from: Kleftiwallah on February 17, 2012, 13:50:49
Phil, don't just push them into the ground, this consolidates the soil below their root plates. Dig a little 'ole and drop them in. Cover with mesh to keep the birds from pulling them out again as they search for bugs. ::) Cheers, Tony.
It's quicker to use a dibber and drop them down the hole.
Got ours in today. Planted loads. Was great day for it as was in the sun and out of the wind.
Quote from: jimtheworzel on February 17, 2012, 14:51:43
i store mine on the shed roof [flat roof] in a wire tray covered by a piece of wood to keep dry ......and it works for me fine
well, my crop had a bit of blight on them, i'd say about 20% and i thought i got rid of of the affected ones completely, until it came to the early winter period when they were stored in the lotti shed, suspended in the ceiling lain on a wire bed. prob. half of them were soft and some were already rotten. over the course of 7mths, i think i had to buy onions about 4 times, so that's not bad considering the harvest i got. how do know for sure that each onion i store is completely free of blight? i thought i had mine checked meticulously, but somehow one or two culprits must have got in... :'(
My onions went in this morning, but saving the red onions till march I find if I plant them early they don't seem to grow very well. I also gave my strawberries a blinking good haircut , and some chicken manure. What a lovely day to be on the plot it felt like spring ;D
Put my shallots in yesterday but still a bit early for the onions yet, even though it was a lovely day yesterday, don't be fooled be the weather, as it still has a bit of bite left this year, unless of course your planting in a poly. ;D
Quote from: cornykev on February 20, 2012, 05:38:10
Put my shallots in yesterday but still a bit early for the onions yet, even though it was a lovely day yesterday, don't be fooled be the weather, as it still has a bit of bite left this year, unless of course your planting in a poly. ;D
Our allotment secretary said onion sets were unaffected by frost etc
They'll sit through the frost and come up afterwards as the soil warms up.
I've found when I plant too early they sit in cold, wet ground and sulk, and I found a lot more would bolt, I used to get them in with the Shallots but now I try them later and get less bolting, I even tried a few early and the rest later and the March plus ones soon caught the earlies, that's my way anyway. :D
:)
I think you are right that bolting is the issue with when to plant. I got two varieties from Wilkinsons - turbo and sturon. The display in the shop said one was for planting from late February and the other from March. Just can't remember which was which and it says nothing on the bag.
Anyway I always plant direct sometime in March. Starting them off always seems like making two jobs out of one. If you plant them before rain the birds don't seem to bother with them at all (in my experience).