Question

[greenfingers007]

HI.

Now I have designed my Allotment plot and on friday am going down with a couple of buddies to mark and stake out the differing beds, and dig over clean and get ready for my overwintering onions, all going according to plan!!!! So far. but as per usual I have a couple of questions, such as::::


* what to plant after my wintering onions
* Do you plant all of them at once or do you stagger them over a period of a few weeks? to get a continual crop?
* Do people plant summer onions as well?

Now I have got some fish, blood and bone based fertilizer to put down and dig in, do I have to leave the ground for a week or so before planting?
Thanks in anticipation.

[Hazel at the Hill]

* what to plant after my wintering onions

In my 4 year rotation (John Seymour's plan), I put in overwintering onions in for next years root bed, so when these are dug up, (in about june/july next year) you can put in either spring onions, beetroot or a late carrot crop, then when they are dug up the ground is heavily manured in anticipation of the following potatoes...
but you might not have the same thoughts on rotation as I have.

* Do you plant all of them at once or do you stagger them over a period of a few weeks? to get a continual crop?

They'll all catch up - onions are a chuck-em-in-the-ground-and-ignore-them crop (except do keep them weeded!), so it's fine to have one planting session, and harvesting session.

* Do people plant summer onions as well?

yes - if your overwintering onions are japanese onions, they wont store for that long (mine are thinking about sprouting even after a couple of months in store!) so people do spring sets too - they're harvested about a month later than the autumn ones, and they are supposed to keep better too.

You can never have enough onions!

Now I have got some fish, blood and bone based fertilizer to put down and dig in, do I have to leave the ground for a week or so before planting?
Thanks in anticipation.

Yes, you should do, but if do have to plant at the same time, just make sure it's well raked in.

And don't forget to sow a garlic bulb or two at the same time as your onions!

[greenfingers007]

Well Hazel at the hill, thats seems to have covered everything Thank you for your kind advice.

[Snadger]

Rightly or wrongly.......I put cabbage in where my Japs came out this year. Just hearting up nicely now as well!
I rotate my crops but just put in what ever needs planting at that time as long as it's a dissimilar crop to the last!

[Demeter]

They'll all catch up - onions are a chuck-em-in-the-ground-and-ignore-them crop (except do keep them weeded!), so it's fine to have one planting session, and harvesting session.

Remember you can eat them green so you can always pull a few up as you want them, even if they are not officially ready for the final harvest

[Hazel at the Hill]

Remember you can eat them green so you can always pull a few up as you want them, even if they are not officially ready for the final harvest

Fair enough.

[greenfingers007]

Can I just ask is 300 too many? as that is what i bought well it came as a package. saying that there are three of us going to be sharing and there are friends and family that will want a few.

[Stacey Steve]

As Hazel at the Hill said you can never have too many onions, if you have the space, go for it. Better than wasting the sets if you aleady have them.

I normally plant about 100 red and 100 whites, along with about 100 garlic.

[SlugLobber]

Can I ask another question to you onion people?? How much space does each one need? I have around 100 white at the mo and want to plant some red, too, but my garden is quite small.
Ta muchly in advance!

[zazen999]

SlugLobber.

The more space the bigger the onion will grow; I have left 10cm between all mine this year, but in past years I've put them closer together. With seeds, I've planted them in pinches in the past and they push themselves apart as they grow. You can still get onions a good couple of inches diameter even when grown all together. And they look pretty good when they push themselves apart.

I've also, when short of space, grown them firstly in pots or in modules, and interplanted them inbetween other crops [esp the borders when they die back in a few weeks time], and as the new growth in the spring comes, harvested those first [so as not to upset the OH - the borders are his domain].

I've also used them and garlic to mark out beds that I am going to plant out next spring. Once the beds are planted [with salads, beetroot, toms, beans, peas etc; the onions can then be left until the other crops are doing well, and harvested then.

Personally, I grow more onions than anything, and will continue to do so. If you can slot them in somewhere, and you want to grow them; then do it. The worst that will happen is that some have to be harvested before 100% ready, but at the cost of £2.50 for 50 sets, it's still a heck of a lot cheaper than buying them.

Don't forget to give them a boost if you can with some coffee grounds and epsom salts if you have any lying about.

[MaureenHall]

I've got some Epsom Salts, how do I use it to boost my onions?

[zazen999]

Well, there is a thread in top tips about soaking garlic in them before planting out; I tried it and not only did it sprout really quickly, the roots when I put it out at the weekend were ridiculously strong. They'd only been in a pot for a couple of weeks.

But, I usually just add it to the soil as any garlic, onions, shallots go in.

[Demeter]

I have epsom salts - how much should I add to the soil?

I've set aside 2.5 beds for them so I might try using salts on some but not all and compare the difference. Based on your experience Zazen it sounds like a winner. (How/why does it work? Do onions especially need magnesium?)

Also - I too have ridiculous numbers of onions (about 80 seedlings or so, plus a load of sets coming) as well as a few shallots and some garlic to plant, so even on top of the 2.5 beds I may have to be squeezing them in all over the place too! What is the earliest you think they would be of harvestable size next year? That way I can work out where I can put them and still be able to plant up the beds when the time comes next year.

[SlugLobber]

Thanks Zazen, for that reply. I'll get planting, then!

[zazen999]

I have epsom salts - how much should I add to the soil?

I've set aside 2.5 beds for them so I might try using salts on some but not all and compare the difference. Based on your experience Zazen it sounds like a winner. (How/why does it work? Do onions especially need magnesium?)

Also - I too have ridiculous numbers of onions (about 80 seedlings or so, plus a load of sets coming) as well as a few shallots and some garlic to plant, so even on top of the 2.5 beds I may have to be squeezing them in all over the place too! What is the earliest you think they would be of harvestable size next year? That way I can work out where I can put them and still be able to plant up the beds when the time comes next year.

Hi

I have no idea why it works...i have tried researching the reasons and I'm sure the answer is out there so these days I try with and without and if it works; I'm in there.

Epsom salts; I chuck a handful in every square meter or so.

I harvest onions usually from about feb; the longer they are in there the larger they will get - so I try to sow enough to not worry if I take them smaller as it means taking 2 when I would usually take 1.

Alot of my last year's shallots have resprouted - and have good strong shoots - so I'm moving them to the lottie today.