Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Growing => Grow Your Own => Topic started by: allotmentvegigirl on June 14, 2008, 17:12
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Just a quick question - I have grown my onions from sets this year - would like to grow from seed next year - when do I sow them? :?
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depends if winter hardy or not, i sowed white lisbon spring onions in October last year and japanese bulb onions same time, came really well but all my alliums (onions winter and spring sown, shallots, garlic) this year seed or sets are trying to flower and set seed, just cutting the seed heads off and hoping for the best.
Cawdor
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I grew them last year and they didn't make it - so went for sets this year.
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From Christmas till end Feb, I'd say. :wink:
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I sow my onion seed in trays late january and then plant out when they are big enough and the conditions are right. Sowing from seed is better in some ways because the plants don't run to seed.
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The real keen onion growers say you should sow them before your Christmas dinner. Prepare the beds for them in september - dig a trench and put bone meal and pile loads of organic matter in. It will rot and settle so make it higher than the surrounding soil. As long as you don't get pests in it you can use the same bed year after year and build up the fertility. Seeds can take a while to germinate when it's cold , but once they have started and are in the loop stage transplant them into pots - i use plastic cups as they are quite tall and allow decent roots to form only problem with them is they are a little bit transparent. Plant them out about April after first acclimatising them. Best to put windbreak material around your bed to stop wind damage or you can buy or make little wire supports. If you get good seed you can easily grow amazing onions 2 or 3 Kgs big. Robinson's Mammoth seed is quite a good one to start with, but i am sure people will recommend others. Be warned though onion growing can be quite addictive. Good luck.