Allotments 4 All

The allium bed will be ready soon. It's 18'x5'. I want to plant red & white onions, shallots, leeks , garlic & spring onions. I have about 200 red & white, 30 shallots, 100 leeks 3 garlic bulbs & 2 elephant garlic. How close together can they be planted. I don't want big of anything. Can the s onions go between other plants.
Janet

I plant all mine, except the leeks at 6" apart 6" between rows. Leeks I use 9" apart and 9" between rows although most often they go in between the sweetcorn, which is planted at 12" apart 12" between rows.

QuoteLeeks I use 9" apart and 9" between rows

I plant 6" apart and 12" between rows. Obviously my boots are bigger than yours.  ;D

Quote from: Eristic on March 11, 2009, 00:55:00

QuoteLeeks I use 9" apart and 9" between rows

I plant 6" apart and 12" between rows. Obviously my boots are bigger than yours.  ;D

i plant at 13" ;D :P

Onions are one of those things that the closer you plant them, the smaller they grow. So if you want a variety of sizes for cooking, you could try 1 row 3" apart, 1 row 4" apart and so on. The only guide I use is that I can get my hoe between rows, otherwise the whole bed gets weedy because you can't hoe them!

Shallots need more room because they bunch up, so I give them about a foot each way. Garlic; about 6" again a hoes width apart.

Leeks I plant with a couple of rows at close spacing because I like to use some small ones early, pull every other 1 and leave the rest to grow on over winter.

I am going to try mulching with grass cuttings too on one allium bed this year to help keep the weeds down...sorry, can't remember who suggested that! ;D

Quote from: THE MASTER on March 11, 2009, 03:19:45

Quote from: Eristic on March 11, 2009, 00:55:00

QuoteLeeks I use 9" apart and 9" between rows

I plant 6" apart and 12" between rows. Obviously my boots are bigger than yours.  ;D

i plant at 13" ;D :P

Well if it's all done by boot size I'm going to grow more leeks but smaller ones than both of you 8).

On the face of it I would say choose what centres you put them in at you are not going to get all these plants in that amount of space.

This is my plan this year;

Note! all my beds are five foot wide like yours, so I will just discuss the length of bed I have planned for;

Onions 176 No = 30 ft (whole bed)

Leeks 60 No = 9ft approx

Shallots 70 No = 12ft approx

Garlic 70 No = 12 ft approx

Total  approx 60-65 foot of bed 5 foot wide.

So a rough calculation to get all your list in is; you will need an 80 ft long bed.

Or put another way if you crammed them in a half the distance apart that I would, you would still require a bed of around 40 foot long  which is more than double what you have so I think you will have to have a rethink on quantities.

Sorry I am not the bearer of better news.

Is that all the leeks you are planting or will you have another bed as well? I put in 200 last year and they are nearly all gone (gave some away as presents and for charity tables). I plan more this year. They are such a versatile crop, and so little trouble once they are planted out.

GrannyJanny
If you are short of space you could use the onions effectively as borders / edging around other beds. I remember seeing a picture of a garden with onions around the borders and IMO it looked great
Happy planting!

1066, that's what we do, around the bean bed and in between the brassicas, we did fine with them last year  :)

Quote from: Eristic on March 11, 2009, 00:55:00
I plant 6" apart and 12" between rows. Obviously my boots are bigger than yours.  ;D

Argh! but I don't use boots. I borrowed an idea off one of the GW specials,  the one that featured the blind guy. I made myself a set of wooded spacers in 6", 9", 12", 18", and 24" sizes and use those instead. ;D

6 parts and 13 works for me