Are Autumn onions worth bothering with?

[pigletwillie]

I have tried autumn planted onion sets and whilst they do come good a few weeks before the spring planted main crop, I have always found them to take up ground that could be better used with other crops. I say that because the autumn ones do not store very well and as they are ready in late June and my maincrop is ready in August, I prefer to pull a few maincrop ones prematurely as and when required.

Does anybody have any other thoughts on this or do you just plant them because you can, or are you influenced by the gardening press to plant them?

[rustylady]

Daughter decided to put in autumn sets on my lottie last year. I've always sown spring sets till then. Certainly won't bother doing autumn ones again They were absolute c**p! Don't know if it was the weather, but it shouldn't have done any harm, very little frost.

[bramble]

I have always grown autumn sown onion setts. Never gave much thought to spring sown ones. This year i had a great harvest but nearly three quarters had developed thick neck.
I am now thinking of trying spring sown onions, surely they can't be any worse.

[Snadger]

I personally think one compliments the other and pull most of mine before they mature so I don't need to store them! If space was at a premium I would only grow the Spring sown onions, but it's surprising how many veg gardens and allotments are left fallow over the winter in the belief that bare soil looks tidy and that they are actually resting the land. I'm convinced land fares better with crops on it as long as it is in good heart. Just think about it, you never see bare soil in nature.............I digress.
A lot of autumn sown onions have bolted this year with the dodgy weather and this may put people off, but I've known similar occurances with spring sown sets in certain years. I will still plant the Autumn sets (tried seeds and were waste of time) along with all my other winter veg and hopefully I can keep the plot fully productive all year!

[Paulottie]

I swear by the things PW- prefer them to maincrops. I've always liked to see ground used in the winter, apart from tying in nutrients I find I can get a follow on crop like beans set out in July. there a good size for the kitchen. Well dried the store till Xmas. While the maincrops will last till spring.

I started planting them when I escaped London to arrive in the country one Autumn. I dug over the old veg patch and threw in some Shenshui yellow(sp?). as there wasn't much else I could plant. I have grown them ever since. If they are in rich well worked soil and don't dry out not many bolt...got to say I've got better results with practice and soil improvement. but i've had a lot of rot and a boring time trying to dry anything this year.

Do you plant out your shallots in winter or spring PW?

[JennieAtkinson]

I did them last year PW and nearly pulled them all up in January as they were such sickly looking things. I threw a bit of chicken manure at them and they bulked up and stored well over the summer. In fact we've eaten the last one tonight!

I'm going to try and find a spot for them in the tunnel so that they are then succeeded by something really late (they wouldn't be able to stand up here outside overwinter) . It will probably mess up my rotation, but probably prior to sweetcorn.

[heebiejeebie]

I've never tried overwintering onions before, but I have sown some japanese onion seed this year (not much, maybe a square metre bed) just to see what happens.

[la cebolla grande]

I've grown autumn sown sets for a couple of years now, and think they are great BUT I don't put them in with a big crop of standard onions to harvest and store in one go as you would with spring sown ones.

Firstly I agree, why let the land stand bare, so I plant them quite close together, and then use every other one through the winter as spring onions - especially as I am useless at growing real spring onions, unless you want your spring onions the thickness of cotton thread! - then as they start to bulk up in Feb- April/May time I use them straight from the ground as 'proper' onions, but don't bother to store any. From a planting of 60 sets last winter we kept ourselves entirely self-sufficient in ''spring onions'' and onions right through until June, when we started pulling standard onions and using them direct from the ground.

BTW I didn't have a single autumn set bolt - and that is in sandy dry East Anglia.

LCG

[Vegmonkey]

A really interesting thread people, i can see how they would be attractive, but not really to be having such a small plot as they take up valuable space in the roots/alium bed - maybe as a crop to precede some late carrots in a pot they would be useful. It depends on how long the maincrop onions last to be honest. We have just harvested 30 but i think we eat nearly 3 times that per year/. Decisions, decisions...

[Hazel at the Hill]

I think that I might give over some room for these - partly based on the results that David-other-half had on his plot - his autumn sown onions totally avoided the eel worm problem that most of the rest of us had.

[Sebbster]

Not growing overwintering onions, my springs should last through (bedfordshire champs) and although I like to use my land, I'm not sure they're worth the trouble. Especially after this year when most bolted.

If they were months prior to mains I could understand it, but as you, I pull spring planted as I need them, so long as used quickly they taste perfectly lovely.

[wellie]

I grew Japanese overwintering onions one year, in a raised bed. I was extremely pleased with them. They were ready for harvesting when my stored onion supply was gone, and just at the time when I was in need of some more for cooking dishes for the freezer, and for onion soup, and fresh for salads. Dead handy before the maincrops are ready, I'd say.....

So pleased, in fact, that I WAS going to grow them again this Autumn.....!

[veg4681]

I've grown autumn sown sets for a couple of years now, and think they are great BUT I don't put them in with a big crop of standard onions to harvest and store in one go as you would with spring sown ones.

Firstly I agree, why let the land stand bare, so I plant them quite close together, and then use every other one through the winter as spring onions - especially as I am useless at growing real spring onions, unless you want your spring onions the thickness of cotton thread! - then as they start to bulk up in Feb- April/May time I use them straight from the ground as 'proper' onions, but don't bother to store any. From a planting of 60 sets last winter we kept ourselves entirely self-sufficient in ''spring onions'' and onions right through until June, when we started pulling standard onions and using them direct from the ground.

LCG

New to onions, I've been reading this thread with interest esp with what LCG has to say. This way my bed get used, get supplies of fat spring onions (that real spring onions just don't plump up) for stir fries in winter and I would eat them as I go (no storing) and grow them close together. Thanks I may consider autumn sown onions.

[dinah gale]

I planted Senshyu Yellow last autumn and they were more successful than my maincrop onions which haven't come to much this season. I'm still using the Japanese onions and they're good but I suppose I should use them up soon in case they start going soft now, then go on to the maincrops.

I'll certainly plant the sets again. Would be really interested to know what autumn varieties other people have found successful. I'd like to plant a red one this year.

[DirtDobber]

I always end up thinking that I would rather have the space for another crop (of whatever) so what I have started doing is transplanting my onions to the very edge of my beds....I plant then like they are a border and then I use the rest of the bed for planting other crops...so in the spring...every last one of my beds has a border of onions around it...