They look incredible as they grow and it's awesome to have your own onions to add to chutneys and preserves. I love when they are ready to harvest and the tops fold over.
This year I had planted a load from seed in January, but in the end a friend gave me three bags of sets after buying a job lot of mixed ones. I put these in fairly late, although started them in modules.
Other than watering them in I haven't watered them at all even in this dry summer we've been having. I did add plenty of manure before planting and I put the already started sets through plastic. I think that planting through woven plastic with burnt holes helps lock in the moisture and reduces weeding. I know people are trying to use less plastic but I've had some of these sheets for many years now and they're showing no signs of breaking down yet.
I see many adopting No-Dig practices, but if you're having to buy in bagged compost them there is a heavy plastic cost there as well. I tried a no-dig bed this year and it wasn't great, I think mainly because the compost I used wasn't great, it puts your reliance on others producing soemthign you can use if you need a lot of it.
I hope to get my composting area remade this autumn as I've just ripped out all the rotting pallets I had been using.
How was your onion harvest. This year for me I had some great onions, the reds I was particularly impressed with considering they normally bolt on a normal year, but I also had many small ones that didn't grow at all. A very mixed bag.
I keep trying to work out the areas I need for us to be self sufficient in alliums, but I think the problem with onions is storing them well. More shallots next year - the true keepers!
How do you store your onions? How many do you grow to see you through the year (or how long do your own onions last?)
My mum always hung her onions in long chains, we always had to be careful in the shed, but they hardly ever rotted and lasted for months. I don't dig my small garden and now I have my own compost, everything is blooming, but I only have flower beds.
ReplyDeleteI need to make sure I put in a flower bed again next year, I love having some cut flowers for the house. My onions seem to rot in the shed, although that said the shallots last forever, so maybe I should focus more on them.
Deletebeautiful onions kev!
ReplyDeleteI was pleased. Not enough for the year but it's a good start!
DeleteOnions might not be 'profitable' compared to purchase price, but you can grown so many more varieties than you can buy, and there genuinely is a flavour difference - and difference in the way they keep. We harvest ours a bit later when the tops have dried off and then loop them onto wires that hang down from the garage rafters (strings of onions, like Poppypatchwork), and they keep through the winter and well into the spring.
ReplyDeleteThat's a very good point - do you tend to grow from seed then if you're goign for different varieties? Point me in the direction of a good one to grow for next year? Soemthing for taste - we love a roasted onion with our roast
DeleteThis may seem like heresy, but I like to dehydrate onions and then grind them in to powder. I have a solar dehydrator so there's no electric costs, plus it is easier to hide onion powder in the meals of children who hate eating veg.
ReplyDeleteI've often thought of it, espeically when they start to turn. My worry has always been about getting rid of the smell of onions from the dehydrator. What solar one do you have? Is it one you've built yourself? I'm very tempted to build one.
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