Complete beginner about to try onions!

[arwilliams]

I have just moved into a new house, which belonged to a keen gardener. It has a nice large greenhouse, and a lovely small plot at the top of the garden. The previous owner has left a lot of his old equipment too, which includes greenhouse heaters etc (I should say his children left it!).
I love cooking so thought I should try a spot of grow your own to reap the rewards of the space and utilities I now have at my disposal. I was given some tomato plants which are in the greenhouse, a bit too late, but I have some trusses which just need to ripen, which may just happen in time. I planted a chilli plant and a pepper plant. I have had a few chillis and peppers off them but the flowers have stopped. Is this down to the time of year or what I am doing?
I have so many questions, but am yet to find a good source, so any links would be appreciated.
I have managed to grow an excellent basil plant! doing something right!

Back to my real post!
I have this lovely patch at the top of the garden, I hae had a read about and come to the conclusion that there is not much that can be planted this time of year?, and I also want to focus on things I like to cook with, so at the moment its onions and garlic! I have weeded and turned over the patch, now I am stuck. I believe I should put some "general fertiliser" down, then flatten and plant my bulbs. But how deep should I plant them, how far about. One website said an inch deep another nearly 4!!!

I would be so grateful if anyone can offer links to a real beginners guide, or even plenty of help!! I have so many idiot questions to ask! Any ideas would also be welcome in what i can grow and cook with.

Many thanks for any help, or just even taking the time out to read this.

Thanks

Tony

[ginger ninger]

Good Evening arwilliams,
And welcome to the vine, it sounds like all of the hard work has been done for you, how fantastic is that. As for planting onions.. are you growing from seed or Set's? I can only advise on Set's because i've never grown them from seed...I plant mine 8" apart to allow for swelling and so just the very top of the set is showing above the earth. Good Luck with them. xx

[arwilliams]

Thank so much for your help
I am growing from sets, any idea on the garlic?

[oldie]

Much the same as for onions. You just divide the bulb and put the individual little cloves into the soil till they are just covered. Some just use bulbs from the supermarket, but others buy from one of the seed companies as you do have a better choice and they are certified.
As far as all your other queries are concerned this site will answer your questions, either post or search the forums. Visit your local library and browse the gardening section to see if anything grabs your attention.

[bobleponge]

Welcome to the vine, and I agree with what has been posted thus far.
I pop my onion sets and garlic cloves just under the surface, so that only the tip is showing.
Dont just plant and forget though, the local wildlife will find great entertainment in pulling them out of the ground, so check on them often.

There is no such thing as an idiot question by the way, if you dont know something, then ask and someone on the vine WILL know the answer.

If you could stick your location in your profile thingy (top right of these postings) people who live locally will probably be able to better advise, re growing conditions, what will and wont work etc.

And enjoy your wonderful sounding garden.

[shirlthegirl43]

Hi and welcome to the vine. Sounds like you have bought yourself a lovely garden, hope the house that goes with it is good too

It might be worth your while investing in a book called 'The vegetable and herb expert' by Dr Hessayon. There are a whole range of the expert books on different aspects of gardening. They are reasonably priced and give good basic advice on learning to garden and grow your own.

[Demeter]

Your already-set-up garden sounds amazing! Lucky you
Welcome to the vine as well.

The only advance I can offer on what has already been said is to make sure you plant the sets and cloves pointy side up (hairy side down).

I also plant mine a bit closer than ginger ninger. It depends what you want. If you want a smaller number of larger onions then space them well. If you want lots of onions and are looking forward to harvesting some of them small / early to leave space for the others then cram them in. Mine are usually anything from 2" to 4" apart.

The advantage of supermarket garlic is that it is cheap. The advantage of seed garlic is that it is more likely to grow well in British conditions. The middle way is to plant locally grown garlic bought from a farmers market or farm shop! (Our local farm shop stocks garlic grown on a certain well known farm on the Isle of Wight, which has to be more suitable to the British climate than something grown in southern Europe or Africa!)

You can plant broad beans soon as well - October would be best but mine might go in a bit before then. Spring onions can be sown from seed about the same time.

There are also some other overwintering veg that can go in over the next few weeks - get down to your local garden centre and see if they have a few vegetable seedlings - cabbages, leeks etc. The only thing to watch with brassicas (cabbage, broccoli, caulis, kale and family) is that they do take up a LOT of space so go easy on them if you have only a smallish growing area. Cabbage isn't so bad for that as you can cram them in a bit more and (as with onions!) harvest them early / small to leave the others space to grow. Kale is alright as well because it will produce well even over winter and you can just pull it up when you are ready to plant something else.