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Another daft question I know, but....

When is it OK to put onion sets in?   I bought white and red ones unfortunately both sets of packets are a bit vague.....any suggestions would be very welcome.  I live in the south in Essex.

Regards

im in manchester and on my onions it says around early march and mid april when the ground is not frozen or too wet but heat treated set should not be planted until early april  normal shalots should be put in between mid feb and the end of march  hope this is any help ( can you tell i worte it reading from the sheet lol)

Bang on, Loulou. I would add to newby onion set growers, firm the ground before you put them in but make a hole for them and push them in, DON'T screw them!

Ive put mine in last week as the pack had from Feb to March will have to see what happens :-\

The only piece of advice to be added is - don't panic. It is not necessary to get things in at the earliest dates. Anytime in March should be fine for Essex, the sets might start sprouting tiny green shoots, that is an indication that they are ready for planting.

What worries me is the ones that start to go soft in storage waiting to be planted. :(

Thanks for your help guys.  I'll wait a few more weeks then. 

It's just that my fingers are itching to plant the bits and bobs I've got hanging around now.

Kind regards

hmm, one of mine sprouted and when I check it, it was actually soft and mouldy ... hoping the rest will be OK.

Stick your finger in the ground if it feels warm then thats the right time to plant

I thought you were supposed to sit on the ground with no trousers on  :o

if you  are eager to get going why not start them off  in modules?

I think I prefer that to sitting on the ground with no trousers on. ;) ;D ;D ;D

You need to keep checking through them right up to planting time. Any obvious baddies should be chucked out.

QuoteI thought you were supposed to sit on the ground with no trousers on 

you do that first then dj and we'll watch!!!!! :o


then we'll club together and stand your bail before your case comes up!!! ;D


me an merlins mum  are still waiting for our hunions to turn up from dtbrowns.. :-\still i planted everything a bit late last year and i still got a good crop..
kitty