All year Alliums Challenge 2016/17

[veggiechicken]

Amazing variety of flowers - and all so beautiful.
I hadn't heard of most of your alliums before, jay-ell. It's been an education

[Jay-ell]

Thanks, although all of them are classed as edible, several I think aren't really worth harvesting to eat except possible as a garnish (fancy some Hair on a salad ) although I'll find somewhere on the plot to put them just because of the flowers (I'm not softening up though - they technically are still edibles).

So fat the perennials I've tried that I would say are usable as a veg crop are Babingtons Leek, Elephant Garlic, Welsh Onions, Walking Onions,, Allium Polyanthum, Three Cornered Leek, Sand Leek and the various chives. Jury is still out on Oerprie (as I haven't harvested it yet), Raykko and Perutil (neither performed well this year but I'm giving them another go with better conditions. My Ramsons colony has to take off but once it does I know from experience it will be a keeper.

Mouse garlic hasn't done anything, golden garlic didn't really produce enough green to eat, not sure about the bulbs - flowers could be an interesting garnish. Crow Garlic could be a novelty garnish when it's flowering. Daffodil garlic didn't seem to have much oomph and just stalled.

The star of the show was definitely the three cornered leeks as they are so versatile and tasty.

[veggiechicken]

Thanks for sharing! I have a love-hate relationship with three cornered leek. I bought a house and found that the garden was over run by it. Its pretty, versatile and attractive in small doses - but so invasive. I've moved a small clump to this garden but I'm worried that it will take over! Its already spreading.

[Jay-ell]

I'm keeping mine in a trough in the garden - bulbs can't spread out of it and I can pull off and eat any flowers straight away before they seed.

I did do some working out that showed 1 bulb could potentially produce 19000 offspring in a couple of years - and with their seeds sort of protected (who's going to go looking in an ants toilet for seeds to eat?) they get an advantage.

[Cadalot]

Jay - nice photos, I'm guessing taken with a camera and not a phone?

[Jay-ell]

Yeah, those were on my camera - getting the hang of it now.

Today I took up the bulbs for the Daffodil Garlic - being stuck in the shadow of a 4 foot cabbage wasn't the best position for it.

It's produced lots of little bulbs that are too fidly to do much with. The foliage wasn't plentiful either. Not sure what I'll do with these - possibly in a container in the garden as an ornamental.


Some of the Oerprei had keeled over and I gave into my curiosity and lifted a few. Looks like I could be onto a good harvest with these.

Oerprei is a relation of Babbingtons Leek and Elephant Garlic which shows when you look at the bulbs. The large bulbs are called the "Mother Balls" and these are what you harvest. The small bulbs are called the "Brood Balls" and you sow these in August/September. The plant comes from the Low Countries and its name means "Primeval Leek" or "Ancestor Leek" in Dutch.


Last year one of my Elephant Garlic produced a couple of small topsets - they’ve swollen into mono bulbs so I'll replant and hopefully next year they'll give me a decent head of elephant garlic each.


I've another one this year looking to do the same - strange. Both grew from the corms produced on the bulbs, both produced stunted scapes and both were pulled out of the bed and grown in a pot.

[Jay-ell]

Instead of harvesting them earlier in the year as scallions, I let my Egyptian Onion plants from the top sets sown last autumn grow on and die down. This was to increase the number of plants I'm able to get top sets from.

Today I lifted them as they were only in a temporary space and they'll be moving to a new home soon.

Walking onions I've grown don't usually have a large bulb (they split into multiple bulbs instead or use up the energy flowering/making topsets) but because this is their first year and they haven't flowered yet they've put on a bit of weight and are big enough to do a decent pickled onion.



Next season they'll start splitting/top setting so this is the biggest the bulbs will get. Of course next season I'll have loads of new plants putting out top sets, plus the original plants so the pickled onion production line is on the cards.

[Cadalot]

Jay what's the clue that the Catawissa Walking Onions are ready for harvesting? I appear to have lots of second level growth but those onions are only just forming and not of a reasonable size yet.

[Jay-ell]

I'm not sure how big the Catawissa are supposed to get. I found that the second tier topsets don't get as big as the 1st.


The biggest indicator is when they walk and the stem falls over, although even if harvested early they can still take. If the topsets start putting our leaves it's a good sign as well.

Can take a bit longer - my reds are still swelling up (as are all my other allium topsets). Those in the photo above were harvested in August last year, potted up straight away then planted in the greenhouse. I transplanted them earlier this year to the outside bed.

Only one of last years topsets put up a flower stalk.

[Cadalot]

Thanks Jay

[veggiechicken]

Perennialising leeks!

Today I cleared the leek bed of leeks that should have been picked in spring. Since then, they've bolted and suffered leek rust Most of the heads were cut off when they started to bolt but I left a few - 'cos they were pretty
To my surprise, they've been splitting underground and look more like elephant garlic than leeks.





There are plenty more!!


Ted's impressed................



The plan is to replant them all and see what happens next!!

[Cadalot]

As I have white rot on both allotments I'm seriously thinking about growing onions in cut down flower buckets over winter, question is for spring onions what minimum depth of container would you suggest?



I've made a mock up out of a based of square flower bucket from another creative project that I had made. I have a few buckets where the tops have split or become brittle. But I can cut them down to any height really.

The bottom of the handle hole in the side is 100mm from the bottom.

The two holes on all sides at about 10mm up from the bottom so the bucket can hold some water in the bottom to encourage the roots to go down and find the moisture.

[veggiechicken]

Cad, these are some random spring and bunching onions that have never been thinned out - and would look a lot better if they had!
The 2 lots on the table are bunching onions that I'm growing for seed.
Those in the long green planter will be planted in the garden soon to live out their days. Don't know what variety they were but they grew from seed I collected last year.



They don't have much depth and have received absolutely no attention, not even watering!

[Cadalot]

The flower buckets measure 240 x 220mm

So if spaced at 20mm centres in both directions

240 / 20 = 12 spaces = 11 seeds
220 / 20 =*11 spaces = 10 seeds

11 x 10 = 110 onions

There are about 10 onions in a bunch bought at the supermarket so that's 11 bunches which would last us about 22 days at our average rate of consumption, so that a bucket needs to be sown every three to four*weeks *

[veggiechicken]

Sounds good for a technical bod like you but me, I'm a bung 'em in kind of chook so its a pinch of seeds to a module and keep them as a bunch.