[veggieman]

Many years ago, I read that you should firm the ground before planting onion sets, garlic and shallots. I have done so ever since by first putting a wooden board down and walking along it to firm the ground and then I plant the sets etc. However, I can't recall exactly why I should do this and wondered if others do this also and, is so, why?

My onions and shallots, despite putting them into decent soil and occasionally using some growmore or bought-in onion fertiliser before planting, have never been that great and I am wondering if the fact that the soil is compacted underneath is the problem.

Any thoughts?

[DD.]

Never heard of that.  I only use firm ground for brassicas.

I plant mine in recently (2 minutes ago) forked over soil. This allows the root to take hold better without pushing the set out of the ground.

Zazen999 will also advocate loosening the the ground of winter sets in the spring after the soil has been compacted by the winter rains.

[veggieman]

Thanks for the reply.
It is something that I read about ages ago but have often been very envious of the onions being grown by others. Somewhat foolishly, I didn't ask before as I assumed that they were doing similar but that their soil was better than mine. Certainly, firming the ground made no difference to the birds pulling the odd few of them out of the ground before they took root.

Maybe I will abandon this method next time and see if it improves things.

[Beetroot queen]

we forked our yesterday right before putting them in. We did the same last year and had a reasonable crop, some flowered but most did ok

[DD.]

As regards the birds, I do as my grandfather did and that's ignore the books.

I trim off any really long stalks and the completely bury, (but only just), the set.

[savbo]

Maybe I will abandon this method next time and see if it improves things.

Maybe do a little trial, firming down one row and comparing it to an unfirmed?

[veggieman]

Thanks.
I will certainly try something different as about a third of the sets (all good quality) were not much bigger when harvested than when I planted them back in March !
It would have been quicker just to have eaten those sets instead of planting them!

[toxorebel]

As regards the birds, I do as my grandfather did and that's ignore the books.

I trim off any really long stalks and the completely bury, (but only just), the set.

Do you still net them against pigeons when you do this, or does this mean it isn't necessary?

[DD.]

If they can see them, they can't pull them out!

I find the blackbirds are more of a nuisance for doing this than the pigeons. 

[Goosegirl]

If you firm the ground before planting, therre is a danger that you will damage the root plate at the bottom of the bulb when pushing them in. To stop birds (and my cats) pulling them out, I use a length of clematis netting stretched over the onion bed and held at each corner by bamboo cames tied to it. If you use that brown stretchy tie stuff, you can gently ease it up the canes and raise the nettiing as they grow, then take it off when firmly established.

[Salmo]

I snip off any long stalks and plant them with the tips just showing. I then go along the row and pull a small ridge of loose soil over them so they are hidden.

[Zippy]

I wouldn't tread by soil down as I never dig so wouldn't want to compact the soil. Sorry to go on about not digging but iI don't! 

I will hoe the first two or three inches to loosen the top and plant in that. I'm not sure if I will use a fertilizer at this stage or wait until spring. The bed had legumes in this year so should have enough nitrogen.

[DD.]

Re fertiliser (with an "s" unless you're American, Zippy!), my take on it in another thread:

http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=65837.msg752233#msg752233

We seem to have 3 threads running on winter onions, but merging them now would confuse the issue.

[potatogrower]

i wouldn't firm or press the soil. from my experience of root veggies is that they need soft soil as they grow they will displace the soil. if the soil is firmed then they may not be able to grow properly. i had that problem where i grew potato's, onions and carrots and none grew very well, and they were very small but over time, conditioning the soil has helped to get better results.

i would advise to break up the soil with a fork and rake it flat, plant the sets in about either half way (i will try a 3rd pushed into the soil) push some long twigs deep into the soil at each corner and cover it with plastic mesh by pulling the mesh to each twig to stop the birds pulling them out.

hope that helps.