[Chas62]

For two years now I have grown onions and garlic.  The garlic has been fine, but the onions, apart from a few large onions, have been quite small.  Any good tips on how to grow them more like the size in the shops?

[Trillium]

I've found that the biggest onions got a very early start, like seeding in January so they're already a modest size, then planted out in very good soil and kept from drying out too much. Also, you can't crowd onions as their roots can get quite large. Feed every 2 weeks with manure or nettle tea.

[gavinjconway]

Chas62 - What type were they? Are you growing from seed or sets? When do you plant? What is your soil like? Do you feed them at all?

[chrisnchris]

Hope I'm not hijacking the thread too much,

My Autumn planted onions weren't too bad but the Spring planted were terrible. The foliage died down after only a few months, I left them where they were, the foliage has now started to re-grow, should I leave them & see if they survive the winter to give them another go or just pull them up & start again. They are Sturon I think.

[Trillium]

The spring plantedSturons are most likely to turn into seed plants now since they basically died down for a bit and are now regrowing. I'd pull them unless you really want the seed.

[compostqueen]

I was moaning about how small my red onions were but I have to say I've shut up as they're really ok.  Nice and firm, shiny and healthy looking and cook up a treat or fine raw in a salad.  You just need more of them 

[sunshineband]

Onions need feed and no weeds to get big

And enough water

And a long enough growing season

And that's it I reckon

[boldondig]

I have had my allotment for a couple of years - first years Onions were generally small - In the Second Year - after talking to my neighbour , whose onions were huge ( compared to mine ) - I grew heat treated sets, planted them early in the spring ( 01/04) and spaced them further apart ( 8" apart in rows 12 "apart ). This year bigger onions...

[shokkyy]

I have to admit I do find it difficult to weed around onions. It's all very well when the foliage is standing up nice and straight, but one or two windy days and the leaves are lying all over the place, which makes it impossible to use a hoe safely. It's basically hand weeding or nothing, and even though I grow them in a self-contained raised bed that's still pretty time consuming.

[Kenilworth]

Onions need feed and no weeds to get big

May i ask what you feed them with?

[compostqueen]

I generally hand weed around onions, or use my small Ibis cultivator. You could treat yourself to a lovely onion hoe, or ask someone to buy you one for Christmas 

I plant mine in a previously manured bed (if possible) and then generally feed with manure pellets once the bulbs begin to swell, but I don't overdo it 

[Trillium]

I hand pull weeds around the onions and then use the Winged Weeder Jr around the rest. It's small enough to get into small places without damaging roots.

Because my summers tend to be very dry, I put lots of mulch right around the onions to retain moisture and suffocate weeds for the rest of the season.