Allotments 4 All

Ive been told that  you bend the stalks of the onions over to encourage the bulb to swell more, do people do this and if so when?

Its usually done Phil when the onions have reached a  really good size.  I was told it was done to restrict leaves from getting moisture etc from roots, also it is supposed to help to get the leaves  drier for when you lift the onions to store 
I leave mine alone as I find the leaves fall naturally of their own accord. 

I go with Growmore and let them fall over naturally.

Let nature take its course and let them fall, otherwise you'll risk rot and lose more than you store. (the only exception is when floods are forcast and then I would lift them altogether! ;D)

All the leaves on my overwintering onions have fallen over by themselves this year - apart from the ones that were bolting (3) which made them easier to spot and lift early.

In previous years the leaves have never truly gone brown and I have always lifted them when I needed the space for something else - which is pretty imminent now. They usually keep well (often to Dec/Jan) but I have been told that I shouldn't be lifting them yet. Any advice?

We have lifted our overwintering onions today. We probably have about 30. They are very large! We decided to pull them because, after all the rain we have had for the last week nearly all of the elephant garlic has gone rotten  :(. The dissappointing thing about the elephant garlic was that it was a great size and had cloved well. We also pulled the rest of the standard garlic. Didn't want to risk losing the lot due to water logging! Some of the onions had fallen over, but they had not completely died back. I am planning to hang these up in the garage. How long would you expect them to last? Also, do we pull the shallots? They are looking quite large now and I don't want to lose them either!

Anyone have answers to the above questions?  :)

we've pulled lots of our shallots and they are in the greenhouse drying, when we pull the onions, we expect them to last all winter, providing we dry them properly and they're not damaged or gone to seed  ;D

Is this the same for overwintering and spring planted onions manic?

overwintering don't last as long but we use them first  ;D
our shallots were planted in february so, if you planted yours overwinter, they will be huge

Hi all, I've pulled some of my winter onions and will do the rest the weekend, I don't want to leave them in.
a.  because I don't want any rot setting in.
b. I need the ground.
c. onions round here have a habit of disappearing.
;D ;D ;D

Quotec. onions round here have a habit of disappearing.

Funny (as in peculiar) you should say that Corny, up at the site yesterday there was quite a stramash about recent thefts. One plotter had lost all her strawberries, another lost his entire crop of onions.

Not the 'Enfield Snatcher' moving southwards, is it?

;D