Fingering yer Onions!

[Mrs Dobby]

Got a tip from one of the older allotmenteers on our site the other day, he was told by a champion onion grower that to maximise the bulb swelling and growing on your onions to 'finger' them once they start to swell!

Basically you run a finger around the swelling bulb in dry weather to break up the soil a bit and allow them to swell easier, he said he'd tried it and got great results, has anyone else come across this technique? Any ideas if it'll work, any thoughts or comments?

I've tried it with some of the overwintering onions after he told me, but havent been to the plot for a couple of days, so havent been able to check the progress of the ones that have been fingered, but will do so and let you know if there's any difference!

[shirlthegirl43]

It sounds feasible anyhoo.

[HeyWayne]

Indeed it sounds sensible.

I have three onions beds, I incorporated loads of compost in one of the beds so the soild is nice and loose. Two other beds are in rather sandy soil, but with less compost incorporated, so it "caps" a bit more readily.

See if you can guess which bed/beds has the swellest onions...

[zazen999]

I do this with my shallots to give them room to spread - top idea though - esp for those f us with hard clay soil!

I think I will have a try later on, once the rain has been and gone

[maytreefrannie]

Fingering your onions

Got a tip from one of the older allotmenteers on our site the other day, he was told by a champion onion grower that to maximise the bulb swelling and growing on your onions to 'finger' them once they start to swell!

Basically you run a finger around the swelling bulb in dry weather to break up the soil a bit and allow them to swell easier,

Hey, Mrs Dobby,
Any news on the results of giving the onions the finger?

My onions were all small and tasteless this year - I blame the 'washout' by the buckets of rain we've had.

It sounds as if it's worth trying with garlic too, I'll be out first thing in the morning to give it a go.

I'd love to hear from you on whether you think it helped. Thanks.

[Snadger]

Any part of the onion in contact with the soil, apart from the roots will be susceptable to fungal basal rot!

Round here, pot leeks are grown above ground and not 'collared' for the same reason. The length of white is dictated by the 'strain'!

[Mrs Dobby]

Hi MTFrannie!

Well, if you look at the piccies on the VVS 3 onions, you tell me! Seemed like it did help, tho whether thats cos we thought it would or whether the ones we fingered did better I'm not entirely sure, but anything that stands a chance of working has to be worth a go!

[maytreefrannie]

Mrs D, I've just been reading your blogspot and am speechless with admiration at the tidiness and abundance of your allotments. I'm just working on a garden and the most flourishing growth is in the weeds!

It was great to see your photos - keep snapping please.

[roitelet]

Logic says that if the soil is loose then the bulbs have more chance of swelling. My Garlic was a case in point this year. The soil is clay but has had LOADS of humus added last autumn and the garlic this year was huge, The best Iv'e grown.

[Mrs Dobby]

Mrs D, I've just been reading your blogspot and am speechless with admiration at the tidiness and abundance of your allotments. I'm just working on a garden and the most flourishing growth is in the weeds!

It was great to see your photos - keep snapping please.

Hi MTF!

Thanks for the kind words re the blog and the allotments! Have to say that the piccies are taken to show it in the best light, we've still plenty of weeds, just that I try not to let them show on the piccies! lol!!

Next year we're gonna use a lot more cardboard mulches as it definitely seems to keep the weeds down a lot, making it much easier to keep weed free and tidy!

[Snadger]

Logic says that..................

Leonard Nimmoy eat your heart out!

[Sanjo]

Very impressed Mrs Dobby. I do love neat and I adore straight edges. Probably says something very sinister about me and certainly OH thinks I'm weird but we're all different eh? Your allotment is a work of art.
No wonder the camera is aways out. Great stuff. Sanjo