Allotments 4 All

GeoffT kindly sent me some Japanese onions in a swap, I feel a bit daft asking this but  are Japanese onions 'normal' onions? how big do they get? shame on me!!  ::)

hehehe

Yes there the same as normal onions although they may not get as big.

Heres a full description

"Bulb onions are perennials cultivated as biennials and normally seed in their second year. These include the pungent storage onions (yellow, white, and red), sweet onions, pearl onions, boiling onions, and the flat small onions (cipolline) that Italians use for pickling. Bulb onions may have brown, red, white, or yellow skin; be round or elongated, spindle-shaped or flattened; and are encircled by several layers of dry skin. Sizes range from very small to over four inches in diameter. Grouped with the bulb onions are Japanese onions, a type of the perennial Allium fistulosum, which are grown as an annual for overwintering."

http://www.innvista.com/health/foods/vegetables/onions.htm

You probably have heard of them as 'overwintering onions' and apart from the sowing date are basically grown the same way as their summer cousins. They are basically a 'catch crop' i.e. they are ready a couple of months earlier than the summer varieties. Incidentally they don't store as long as the summer ones.

http://tinyurl.com/2ck7cj

Well awnsered you two!!

I grew Senshyu onions this year (planted last autumn). I didn't get a good crop but it was probably because of wet weather. :-\
They definitely do not keep so need to be used during summer. Mine are already sprouting! ::)

I lift mine and chop up and freeze (without blanching) as they don't store very well.  I then add them to stews, spag bog etc from frozen...lovely.

I then grow more onions in the spring to get me through the winter too (though these will store over the winter so i don't freeze these).

I only have grown japanese onions as i find it makes good use of the ground over the winter, leting me grow lots more beans and squashes in the summer. I know they don't store very well but i generally use my last onions in Dec/Jan, then it's few months to when i can't start pulling them fresh again

I tried asking around my plot for ideas of over-wintering onion varieties but nobody seems to grow them.

I have found these:

http://www.marshalls-seeds.co.uk/rkMain.asp?PAGEID=36588&STK_PROD_CODE=1040-6021&CTL_CAT_CODE=M31213

are these ok? or am i being ripped off? have never bought them before.

I was also thinking about:

http://www.marshalls-seeds.co.uk/rkMain.asp?PAGEID=20670&STK_PROD_CODE=1040-6032&CTL_CAT_CODE=M31213
and
http://www.marshalls-seeds.co.uk/rkMain.asp?PAGEID=20670&STK_PROD_CODE=1040-6037&CTL_CAT_CODE=M31213

any comments?

we just bought 50 sets of electric red onions for 1.49 from the local garden centre, no idea of the weight though  :)

They're doing that annoying mail order thing of not saying the quantity. Or if they are, I can't see it!

I ordered from Dobies but they have yet to arrive ( http://www.dobies.co.uk/pl_P-VEG_.htm ).

Trouble is you can't tell about quality. We were in Wisley today, and their Electric Red sets were appalling quality (rotten & mouldy bits on them). Their Senshyu's weren't much better but at least have some chance of becoming edible.

i just ordered mine from marshall's.... overwintering onions are the only ones worth growing i think

Mine went in last week, £1.50 for a 1kg bag.  ;D ;D ;D

Got mine from Suttons. Radar and Swift. One keeps longer than the other. Will have to check which one it is. lol

Got mine from a market in Bury St Edmonds whilst we were in Suffolk last week.

Radar 250g and Electric 250g supposed to be 50 in a bag according to website but I had 58 of the electric.  :)
Not as cheap as other people but they seem good, it's poured with rain all day today so I haven't been able to put them in yet!!  >:(

http://www.terwinseeds.co.uk