Onions, shallots & garlic - too late?

[Veggiemite]

I wasn't able to get out and sow my onion, garlic & shallot sets any earlier. What does everyone reckon...is it too late now?
Many thanks

[greenishfing]

Plenty time for garlic. The others I'm not so sure about.

[Guest]

Bung 'em in they have two choices

[jackarmy]

Garlic apparently needs a bit of a coldspell to kick it off so you may as well leave it untill you move to iceland the way this weather is going .
i planted my early wight at the end of october and is a foot tall,( i actually have baby tumbling toms growing in my hanging basket, must remember to get a pic ) how they will turn out if we have no cold spell i dont know, guess we will find out in may lol.

Other than that, nothing ventured.........

[veggiechicken]

I'm with the bung 'em in camp!
It may depend on which varieties you have as there are autumn and spring planting types.

[Snadger]

It really depends on how much space you have available. If space is limited you could be wasting it. If it isn't , go for it.

[Bill HH]

If you don't plant them, no doubt you will bin them, so you have nothing to lose.

[veggiechicken]

Even if you don't have the space, by the time you need the space (?spring) you could pull them as green garlic or "spring" onions................Go for it

[Chris11]

I've started garlic both earlier and later than this in previous years with similar results.

January is usually the coldest month, so plenty of time for the garlic to get sufficiently chilled before we get to normal early spring growth.

[Bal]

I had some left over onion sets and I planted them 2weeks ago. Some of them have come up. I would have binned them if I didn't plant them so had nothing to lose

[scarey55]

Isn't there something that says plant garlic on the shortest day and harvest on the longest. Assuming I haven't made that up (and its by no means certain that I haven't) you still have a couple of days. As everyone else has said, you haven't got anything to loose by planting them now.

[Lisasbolt]

I echo all the above, you have nothing to loose and can harvest immature if space is needed.

[kathyd]

I've been planting autumn onion sets over the past few weeks, latest only a week or so ago. All seem to be sprouting . They'll probably start flowering by the end of Jan mind you at this rate!

[Alison]

Depends on the varieties

[Bill Door]

Hi Veggiemite.

There is no problem in planting any of those now.

Garlic requires cold so that the bulb splits, so you can put garlic in now. I have sometimes left it until February and still got a good crop.

Shallots are ok now as well. I have planted some from modules today, as well as shallots that were still hanging in the garage. I plan on putting more in modules, to plant out in February and also planting more direct in the ground between now and New Year (weather permitting).

As far as onions go I would hold off planting sets until end of February/March but you can start seeds in modules (about one, two or three per module). I will start mine before new year and leave them in the garden shed and hope to plant them out in March.

As I have said else where I am also putting leek seeds in pots this month to give them a good start and get baby leeks in early summer.

As others have said if you have anything to put in the ground then go for it you have little to lose.

Enjoy your gardening

Bill