Where to plant my onions

[emily84]

Hi everyone!

So this is my 2nd year growing veggies and I just wanted a bit of advice about this years onions.

Last year I brought Red Barons as small plants and had great success with them. This year I have brought sets (Strutgarter) and started them in pots on my windowsill as I was worried about the frost.

I'm thinking I'm going to get them hardened off and planted out (under a poly tunnel if needed) but my question is, should they go in a different position to last year? I have read online that they may need to go in a different place.

I over wintered some leeks and last years onions grew really well next to them but if there may be problems with the soil then I'll find them a new spot.

Thanks in advance,

Emily

[Capsid]

Both onions and leeks are quite hardy and should resist the frost, so I'd get them outside otherwise they may get too leggy.

It is recommended to plant them elsewhere to avoid any disease build up in the soil such as white rot for onions. If you can, it's best to rotate all your crops on a 3-4 year cycle.

[emily84]

Thanks Capsid.

So last year I had them in this position:

-------- onions
-------- leeks

I'm thinking now this maybe better:

------- onions ------- leeks

The soil where I'm now thinking the onions should go had nothing in it last year due to a total carrot failure!

So then I'll have a free space behind my leeks where last years onions were. Just so I know, is there anything else that wouldn't be suitable to go in this space or is it just no more onions?

[Capsid]

Following onions with members of the onion family such as leeks, garlic, shallots isn't ideal. I have done it though so it's not critical.

[Norm]

I would agree with everyone who advocates a degree of rotation to avoid disease BUT, this came up at the allotment last week and the show onion growers have been using the same bit of land for 10 + years with no problems. Maybe they sterilise the soil annually (they won't talk about what they do. Shhhhhhh, it's a secret!)

[Two_Sheds]

Onions and leeks are the same family ...

[Capsid]

Onions and leeks are the same family ...

Yes, I said that.

[Aberdeenplotter]

Onions and leeks are the same family ...

Indeed, they are both alliums.

I also agree that it is best to exercise a scheme of rotation, but, having said that, exhibition growers use the same trench year on year with amazing success.

[Aberdeenplotter]

I would agree with everyone who advocates a degree of rotation to avoid disease BUT, this came up at the allotment last week and the show onion growers have been using the same bit of land for 10 + years with no problems. Maybe they sterilise the soil annually (they won't talk about what they do. Shhhhhhh, it's a secret!)

No secret at all. The National Vegetable have a couple of DVD's available for sale by John Soulsby one of the best leek growers in the country. One on growing blanch leeks(the long ones), the other on growing pot leeks(the dumpy variety). All techniques revealed.

[Two_Sheds]

Yes, I said that.

I wasn't disagreeing with you ...

[Kristen]

Using the same soil over-and-over is fine until you get disease, and provided you can re-balance the nutrients. (One book I read advocates it - on the basis that you then definitely have land that is disease free to move the crop to following disease!)

Rotation may help prevent disease getting established (so if you had disease last year, but it was not enough for you to notice, then there is a risk that it will take a much stronger hold this year, and then be much harder to get rid of - White Rot may require not reusing that bed for Alliums for 8 years )

Rotation also helps as plants will take different nutrients out of the soil, particularly micro-nutrients *macro-nutrients you will provide anyway ), and thus gives the land time to recover. I expect exhibition growers have got feeding down to a fine art!

[emily84]

The leeks that I have in at the mo are from last year, I over wintered them.

So I've got leeks in the same bed until they're ready to come up and I've just planted some onion and garlic in the space where my carrots failed last year.

Not sure what to put where last years onions were, something not too big so it doesn't over shadow the leeks I suppose.

[emily84]

Would spinach be happy where last years onions were?

[rustylady]

How much room do you have Emily?

[Two_Sheds]

Would spinach be happy where last years onions were?

No reason it wouldn't be. It's a leafy crop, so needs nitrogen. There's probably enough in the soil already

How come your carrots failed? What happened?