[rowlandwells]

there's two things i havent tried growing before they are  autumn onion sets and broad beans i usually set my onion sets and onion seed and broad beans  in the spring but having  read this months Which gardening . there's a good write up in which gardening  I'm so tempted does anyone know if you can grow autumn sets in pots and then come spring set them out and is the same  possible  for broad beans pot them up and set them out in spring can this be done? although gardening for thirty years i have never set autumn sets or broad beans to overwinter before don't know we i havent give it a go before now

which trials have rated Troy and Senshyu yellow as one of the best buys but you may have had good results from other varieties not mentioned so if you could give me some advise on this topic please

[DD.]

There is no need to grow sets in pots, they are winter hardy and will have developed a good root sytem by spring, which you are going to disturb if you try planting them out.

Don't be tempted to plant too many as they are not the best storers. They should be looked upon as a stop gap between your spring planted crops.

[crh75]

In my opinion, broad beans sown in early spring are more reliable and with a quick growing variety like express are no later then autumn planted ones.

I grow a few over wintered onions as they are a bit earlier but generally prefer the spring grown ones and they seem to get bigger as well.  This might just be me though!!

As DD says the onions and broadbeans are planted straight out side, if you move them in the spring you'll set them back a time or worse...

[fatbelly]

I have grown over wintering Onions from sets once and they weren't that good, so I am not one to advise on them.

Buy I am a bit of a devil with the old broad beans and I think the spring sown ones are far better. They soon catch up with autumn sown seed and the yield spring sown seed gives is first class.

So Onions , sorry can 't help but my advice is ignore the winter sown broad beans and wait for very early spring to sow the spring varieties.

The only people to advocate winter sown broad beans are the seed companies 

[noshed]

I usually sow Aquadulce broad beans in the autumn and I think you get a slight advantage over the blackfly but a lot depends on the weather. They are very hardy though - this year's snow didn't bother them.
This year I might not because I'm having a major tidy of the plot so I may not have room - I'll just stick to spring ones.
Autumn onion sets are fine if you have the space - they're in the ground a long time.

[Zippy]

On the subject of autumn sown onions, my Radar arrived today so I'm going to be busy planting asap.  My question is do I hoe in some fertilizer this time of year before planting the sets or does this encourage too much growth this side of winter?

With respect to Broad Beans, I prefer to start off in pots and plant out in spring where I want them, but I only plant out about ten plants as we don't like 'em that much.

[Sweet Pea 2]

do you put them in the cold frame then?  What size pots and how large do they grow before you transplant them. I am quite tempted to do this, as all mine were lost last year, just never germinated directly but I still have some Aquadulce seeds.  We also don't like them all that much, but I am sure we would be grateful for an early crop of something.

[Zippy]

Sweet Pea 2 - I don't overwinter them. I start them very early Feb/Mar in pots in a corner of the poly greenhouse I have at home and plant them around March. I find that start in pots gives them a good start and they catch up with the direct spring sown ones. We don't like them that much so we only plant a few - wouldn't recommend on  a larger scale.

Onion sets - can anyone advise do I hoe in a fertilizer this time of yesr before planting the sets or is this not recommended?

[purplebean]

I believe that application of general fertilizer a week before planting the sets is recommended

[paintedlady]

I find overwintered broad beans hit & miss - most years they have come through really well and been very productive.  The other year they looked a sorry mess by early spring and I intended pulling them up but was busy with other jobs and forgot - they quickly recovered and produced a fantastic crop.  Last winter's long drawn out cold snap however was just too much for them and they collapsed. 

I would highly recommend giving them some protection from high winds such as a sturdy screen.  Interestingly, one of my neighbour's on the allotment grows loads of them really close together in block formation over winter with a little screen (flexible orange roadworks barrier) around the block to stop them falling over, and he gets an amazing crop every year without fail.  Perhaps the block formation prevents high winds from rocking individual plants or the outer plants are sacrificed to protect the ones in the middle from the worst of the weather and increases survival rates, or maybe the close planting creates a dense canopy of leaves which helps to protect the roots from plummeting temperatures?

[DD.]

I don't feed the onion bed when planting in the autumn as the nutrients are going to leech out over winter whilst the onions are sitting there doing nothing.

Once they get going in the spring, that's the time for me.