[freefolk]

Seasons greetings!  I went and checked my onions "Radar" and "Electric" today.  They all look wonderfully well, stalks in excess of 6" on most (if not more).  The sets however look very "soft".  I believe that this is part of the natural process, whereby the set is the food source and the bulb grows later in Spring.  Please correct me if I am wrong, or do I have nothing to worry about.  Many thanks.

PS, with all the frost here in Hampshire, the garlic look fantastic!

[sunshineband]

Nothing to worry about. The bulbs use up energy growing roots and shoots, and won't start making a new bulb until the weather warms up a bit and there is more daylight

Plenty of snow over your way too last week, I noticed... more than usual  Got to be good 

[ididntdoit]

I would think you have a problem at this stage of the year but it may be OK.

A question back though, why did you buy such readily available sets so far in advance of planting them? The suppliers know how to store them to keep them in perfect condition until mid January, February - us normal gardeners simply don't have the accurate refrigeration conditions to do that.

[DD.]

I would think you have a problem at this stage of the year but it may be OK.

A question back though, why did you buy such readily available sets so far in advance of planting them? The suppliers know how to store them to keep them in perfect condition until mid January, February - us normal gardeners simply don't have the accurate refrigeration conditions to do that.

The poster is referring to winter onions, which are planted in the late autumn and I assume he's referring to those in the ground, not in storage.

[freefolk]

Yes, I was referring to planted sets, not stored ones.  All would appear to be OK I believe.

[New shoot]

Yes, I was referring to planted sets, not stored ones.  All would appear to be OK I believe.

Mine are up and are the same - all green leaf and no substance down below.  As Sunshine says, they will bulk up later on.  I give mine a feed of pelleted chicken manure around the end of January/mid February to perk them up after the winter.