What do spring onions look like??

[Shelle]

I planted some seeds at the end of march, they have come through, but look more like chives - very thin. At what point should they be thickening up to look like spring onions??? Am wondering if they are not growing properly? My second sowing a month later are doing the same thing (although not as big as the first obviously) so maybe this is right??

[jacob marley]

I planted some seeds at the end of march, they have come through, but look more like chives - very thin. At what point should they be thickening up to look like spring onions??? Am wondering if they are not growing properly? My second sowing a month later are doing the same thing (although not as big as the first obviously) so maybe this is right??

evry thing is doing fine by the sound of it they will be big enough one day you have to have patience when gardening mine are no bigger if that helps Jacob

[sewer rat]

Agree with Jacob. I have loads in at the moment and they are like needles, but they will start to grow faster and fill out soon enough. Patience is a virtue.

[Shelle]

Excellent! Its just my first year and I am slowly learning that patience is a HUGE part of gardening Just like a bit of reassurance every now and then!

[Alice]

Spring onions are not a fast crop. I have taken a tip from Nick and Piglet. Plant your spring onions early in 3" pots, liberally sprinkled over. Grow them on indoors or in the greenhouse. Once looking like the thing and the weather is a bit warmer, plant them out, the whole pot into the space. They will grow on fine.
I did mine by this method this year and they look great. Seeds sown into the ground on the same date look puny by comparison.
Also variety may play a part. I sowed 3 kinds - White Lisbon, Winter White Bunching and Ramrod.
From an early sowing White Lisbon are doing the best.
Hope this helps.

[Hazel at the Hill]

That sounds like the thing for us next year - germination quite slow and a bit on the patchy side when direct sown, so far. When do you call 'sowing early', Alice?

Even if we don't have the benefit of a greenhouse next year (which would be great!), we will be able to germinate in pots inside then coldframe.

[terrier]

Is it too late to sow into pots for a late crop ?

[Alice]

Hello Hazel, I started my spring onion trial on the 25th March. I think you could start a bit earlier.
Plant the spring onions liberally sprinkled over 3" pots. Leave them there until about 2" tall. You can keep them on the windowsill, in the greenhouse or under any kind of make shift cloche. When the pots are nearly full of roots, make a hole the size of the pot, tip the pot out into your hand, and plant the lot on the hole. Do it in a row if that's the way you like it. Or use them to fill in the gaps and corners. Whichever way, I find them well ahead of the spring onions planted in the ground on the same date. Hope it helps.

[Hazel at the Hill]

Thank you Alice - fabulous idea - you are an inspiration to me as always!

[Alice]

Thank you Hazel, but I got the method from Nick and Piglet. Tried it this year and it sure works for me. Hope it works for you next year. But it's not too late for you to get some for later on this year.

[Flummery]

I am about to get a third sowing of spring onions in. I've been raising mine in modules, also in an unheated greenhouse. We have eaten the first lot (sown directly into greenhouse border to use the space before the toms went it. The second sowing was in the modules - it's one of those larger size - about 20 to the seed tray. I put 4 or 5 seeds into each module and when they are about 3" high I plant the whole cell into the ground putting them about 4" apart. They thicken out and push each other apart but it's not a quick crop. I sowed this second lot in March and they won't be long till they are ready, hence the third lot later this week (when it stops raining!).

[JennieAtkinson]

Doing mine in modules this year as Nick and Piglet suggested and it is working a treat. But as you say Flummery it is not a quick crop.

[Alice]

While I'm waiting for my spring onions I'm using red onions. I planted the sets outside in the ground in March. I'm pulling the thinnings and using the whole lot like spring onions. Very nice. Some of them are starting to get quite big bulbs now.

[BarleySugar]

Slowest spring onions?
I planted some red spring onions last year but most never did grow big enough to pull. Eventually they died down, and left a load of very small bulbs. I intended to throw them out once I'd cleared the ground, but forgot and found them dried off under the greenhouse staging in the spring. I planted them out, and I've been pulling them as spring onions, but some are bulbing up nicely as red onions, so I'll leave a few to see how they do.

[Alice]

Welcome to the Vine BarleySugar and hope those red onion things do well for you.