To all regular readers, apologies for the lack of recent posts, it’s not that i’ve not wanted to, more that we’ve had Ofsted in work and that we haven’t had the internet at home due to B.T being COMPLETELY inept…but that’s a whole other story.
I took loads of pictures at the beginning of the week, but they are all pretty much out of date now as everything has grwon since then. I’m hoping we’ll have the net back up soon, when the pole is replaced, but i think i might be doing a post a day until i’ve caught up!
The onions in the front of the picture are Japanese Senshyu Onions which grow overwinter. We’d never grown these before, and as they were a bit of an experiment, didn’t know what to expect. In my opinion, ground with something growing in it is better than ground that is empty, even overwinter, so they went in. The growth has been quite erractic, so much so, that about 10 are beginning to bulb, but the rest are taking a while to catch up. This might be due to a differing amount of nutrients in the soil or lack of water, but i’m hoping it’s more to do with the size of the set initially planted, and the smaller ones will catch up. On the brightside, i suppose it means we won’t have a glut.
In the reverse of the picture…again another experiment! I planted one lot of onions sets, both reds and whites (the varieties escape me), then a second sowing of pretty much the same quantity about a month later. The idea was to check whether sowing a month later actually brings the onions to maturity any sooner. Both sowings are lookign healthy. If all goes to plan, we can slowly harvest the Japanese onions for the rest of the summer, and use the Spring planted ones over winter and into next year. They will store much better than the Japanese ones which need to be eaten pretty much straight after harvest.
Working on the basis that we eat 3 onions a week, we should have enough of a supply to keep us going all year.
How amazing would that be! To never have to buy an onion again? At least i know they haven’t been covered in pesticides.
Tags: japanese onions, onions, stuttgarter
May 18th, 2008 at 5:14 pm
Hey VM & TM!! Nice to have you back! :o)
Its a great feeling when you look at your string bag (v glamourous) and can see all the onions that you have smugly got for most of winter. Make sure you dry them out properly…or they’ll just rot. Oh, and a string bag (or the bag from my bulk buy of daffs) is another essential. Or tights……:o(
May 18th, 2008 at 6:43 pm
Mmm…homegrown onions sound so yummy. I’m starting my first veggie garden this year and would love to try growing onions someday.
May 18th, 2008 at 10:30 pm
What a lovely bunch of onions sir.
Blimey I could easily eat an onion a day - I’ve put in 250 sets so far and I reckon I’m still going to run out! Next year I really recommend you try Hercules onions, they’re tasty gorgeous, especially in soups.
Last year I put in my first overwintering onions - Radar. They’re supposed to be super early, but I was super late putting them in (started as I meant to go on), so they’re really only marginally further on than my Hercules that I put in this spring. I’ve been putting in onions as and when I find the space, which has sort of translated into successive planting. Allotment onions are going great guns, despite Mr Mole’s tunnelling, and Smallest Smallholding onions put in earlier are ok. Cat keeps unearthing the latest sets though, so my experiment may have to be put on hold until next year.
May 19th, 2008 at 8:24 pm
Ooh I’m so envious of all that space. I love too onions but have only have room for about 20 - don’t think they’re going to last long, but at least it will be 20 I didn’t have to buy.
VM - a quick question, how much do you water your onions? I have watered mine when it’s been hot, but I’m not sure if I need to do it more often.
May 21st, 2008 at 8:20 pm
Cat - last year i just strung them up to a metal shoe rack attached to the ceiling in my shed…bizarre i know but they looked good.
Amy - welcome to the blog, i’ll come say hi soon!
Lucy - sounds like you do eat a lot of onions. I thought about the radar ones , but decided the Japanese ones sounded more exotic, even if they weren’t! Ta for the complements.
OPSP - it’s more fun growing them anyway! I water onions when the ground gets dry, if the get too dry they stop growing until they get water again, which could cause them not to grow as well, if that makes sense.?!?
May 25th, 2008 at 5:30 pm
I always like having onions in my garden and if you like green onions probably will be your first harvestable crop. This year I am planning to make salsa 100% from my garden with the addition of garlic this year I should be able to do it, the tricky part is getting tomatoes, garlic, onions, and cilantro all ready at the same time
May 27th, 2008 at 9:45 am
Now salsa is a great idea. I still haven’t attempted garlic - def. one for later this year! Thanks. Do you have a recipe?