All things Allium - Leeks, onion, shallots etc

[bramble]

planted out my shallots on Saturday. As I have'nt the space I had last year I have planted them in two half barrels and will be interested to see how they do in containers.

[greendean]

sowed spring onions white lisbon in modules as per pigletwillies recommendation today

[Jenegade]

Put my onion seedlings and some of my leek seedings out to harden off today, may have been a bit mean for their 1st day outside....it's really cold and snowing heavily again!

Fingers crossed they'll be fine, can't go home and put them inside again til after work!

[pigletwillie]

Today I managed to get a raised bed full of "sturon" onion sets planted, another of "Red sun" shallots and a good dozen of banana shallots planted for next years seeds.

Rain stopped play but I still have lots of sturon to plant out as well as some Red Karmen.

All of my leeks have now been pricked inot individual pots as have the spanish onion, rose de roscoff, ham onion and banana shallot seedlings.

[gojiberry]

I think my leeks need to get a little bigger before I pot them on. I have a good selection of onion seeds on the go but had poor germination of red baron and bedfordshire champion. Still wont be short overall.

Ian

[Edwardo82]

I note that alot of people are growing their onions and shallots from seed. I have opted to grow all mine for the first time from sets. I have done a bit of reading and found out that the cold weather can cause them to run to seed and therefore giving you a poor crop. I have only bought some Red baron and Stuttgart sets.

I have planted them all in individual posts in my greenhouse just to get going so I then can transplant them out later on when it's warmed up. I just wanted to give them the best start possible, but I may be slightly over the top here, but I am completely new to the game.

Has anyone got any advice for sets versus seed and any tips for my sets please?

Many Thanks

Edward

[Lazgaot]

Edward, I'd just plant them out directly. I don't the weather is cold enough to really affect them, they'll be insulated in the ground for a few weeks anyway before any real growth gets above ground. We'll be well into April then and things will be alot warmer.

[pigletwillie]

Ed, I grow the bulk of mine as sets with only the specials grown from seed. For the bulk growing of standard onions, sets are hard to beat. Unfortunately you dont get sets of the more unusual varieties so they have to be grown from seed.

[Edwardo82]

Thanks guys I think I will go right ahead then and pop them in the ground and free up some space in the old green house

Pigletwille, I will see how this year goes first then try some unusual varieties next year from seed, thanks alot!!

[vonbarky]

Need some help. First time Allium grower, trying lots of them this year. We LOVE cooking with them, but have never tried growing them, so I'm completely a newbie here in Allium land. I sowed leek seeds in a flat, then today just pricked them out to cells, but it was horribly tedious and difficult. It was easy getting the leek out of the flat, just hard to get it into the cell.

First, WHY do people sow in flats first, then prick out into cells? Is it just a space issue? If so, why not just sow two seeds into a cell and snip the one that is slower? I'm interested in the reasons why I should be transplanting them at the crook stage rather than just direct sowing them in the cell and letting them get to the next size (pencil size?) before transplanting out. After my experience today it would be worth it to me just to get another rack with lights rather than spend the hours to prick out all the seedlings.

Also, had lots of difficulty with the roots when I transplanted into cells. I had to make a hole the size of my index finger, then wrap the little roots around carefully so that I could get the leek into the cell. Maybe I let them get too big before putting them in individual cells? They were on average between 4 and 6cm tall above the soil and 3-4 cm long under the soil... half of them were just extending their crook, the rest had already extended it.

Anyway, thanks so much for the help. This forum has been invaluable for me getting my feet wet with all things Allium.

[greendean]

pricked out leeks into modules last night
sowed some southport red and spanish white

[selfraising]

Hi can anyone advise me? I've got some Red Baron onion sets left over and no space to put them anywhere. The label says they can be spring or autumn planted. Could I keep them and plant them in the autumn or will they be no good by then?

[zazen999]

Need some help. First time Allium grower, trying lots of them this year. We LOVE cooking with them, but have never tried growing them, so I'm completely a newbie here in Allium land. I sowed leek seeds in a flat, then today just pricked them out to cells, but it was horribly tedious and difficult. It was easy getting the leek out of the flat, just hard to get it into the cell.

First, WHY do people sow in flats first, then prick out into cells? Is it just a space issue? If so, why not just sow two seeds into a cell and snip the one that is slower? I'm interested in the reasons why I should be transplanting them at the crook stage rather than just direct sowing them in the cell and letting them get to the next size (pencil size?) before transplanting out. After my experience today it would be worth it to me just to get another rack with lights rather than spend the hours to prick out all the seedlings.

Also, had lots of difficulty with the roots when I transplanted into cells. I had to make a hole the size of my index finger, then wrap the little roots around carefully so that I could get the leek into the cell. Maybe I let them get too big before putting them in individual cells? They were on average between 4 and 6cm tall above the soil and 3-4 cm long under the soil... half of them were just extending their crook, the rest had already extended it.

Anyway, thanks so much for the help. This forum has been invaluable for me getting my feet wet with all things Allium.

My preferred method is sow into cells then leave until a few mm thick and then put into final position. I've tried and will continue to try lots of different methods. The one above seems to be the most successful

Autumn sown seeds, left until the start of winter, and transplanted - seem to give the best return for me for using through the summer.

But sets - if they last long enough and don't get white rot - are the best for long term storage.

[selfraising]

Anyone grown winter bunching onions? I think they're supposed to be a winter spring onion?

[pepper]

onion sets

I started my onion sets in modules in the greenhouse but I am really running out of space in there. When can i plant them outside is it ok now or should i wait a bit longer