Were my onions planted too early?

[Florence Fennel]

Have you tried any petrol stations Stella? Might be worth asking if they recycle their flower buckets.

[Croila]

Aw that's a real shame you can't get hold of them ... It's only 99p for eight nine/ten inch buckets. I asked in Sainsbury's and were told they don't give them away at all nowadays.

Have you tried Tescos or Morrisons?

[stella]

We dont have a Morrisons but will ask in tesco next week. Talking of things growing my broad beans are all up???? Will they survive the frost and snow?

[Two_Sheds]

Aquedulce and Sutton broad beans are hardy

Snow is an insulator, it keeps things nice and snuggly

[stella]

Phew thanks 2Sheds I was looking at their little green heads poking through and thinking they were going to die

[gojiberry]

Always difficult to judge a suitable planting time for overwintering onions as you can never tell when the cold weather is going to start. The ideal is to get the onions established and have about 2 to 3 inches of green top before the cold stops them growing. Most years Sept is a little early especially if we don't get the first frost till Xmas. However this year the cold has started fairly early and the onions should have slowed down now. I sowed some in Sept and they have tops about 6 inches high and have come through several frosts so far. I usually split mine and sow Sept and Nov.

Ian

[Croila]

Ooh, well, the first batch of my onions have a good three inches growth on them so they should be okay. The second batch have only just started though, planted the sets on 31 October, so goodness knows what will happen to them. We've had a few frosts so far ... in fact, it's nearly every night now ... so does that mean that growth is pretty much stopped until spring? I hope the onions and shallots I planted on 31 October don't just rot in their buckets

[Chef_uk]

I have 4-6in on mine although some look like they have snapped without coming away (possibly one of the toddlers). Should i cut them at the snap?

[chriscross1966]

I think people get the wrong end of the stick a bit with overwintering alliums an dbeans in this country.... It's rare (last year excepted) that cold is the problem... more usually it's the wet that causes the problems, especially for the alliums....not much you can do except improve the soil as much as possible.... generally cloching hardy plants for a long period isn't going to help, if it's that wet, making it warmer and with still air will just encourage rot of some description....
Most of the horticultural onions and garlic originate from Siberia.... it gets cold there.....

chrisc

[Croila]

Hmmm, thanks for this Chriscross ... Maybe putting some sharp sand in clay soil might have helped? Most of my onions, shallots and garlic are in buckets but there are still a few in the ground. I didn't dig in sand, so maybe they'll just rot

[RobP]

I planted one of my sets of sets a bit too early, some have about 5-6 inches of growth on them but several have snapped in the wind. What should i do with them? The bent over bit is still green and bits are actually curling back upwards as they have kept growing (they bent a few weeks ago probably).

Should I just leave them or should I trim the bent/snapped bits back to below the bend?

Cheers