[boddy]

Hi.

I put some onions and shallots in in October. There are a few pathetic looking shoots but they don't really seem to have done much. Could I have I done anything wrong? Is there anything I can put on them to perk them up a bit? Perhaps it been a bad year for them all round.? I'd be interested to here. My soil is on the sandier side. There is a possibility that onions were grown there last year as I only took it on in the autumn, could that be the problem?

Thanks

[jondav14]

Mine have looked pretty awful throughout the winter and have only just started to look healthy. The shallots have about 2 inches of growth which has only recently appeared, so I wouldn't worry just yet, you are a bit further north of me. I was given a bag of growmore  last month and have applied several handfuls over them last weekend.

[shoozie]

Can only comment on the onions - If you've got a couple of inches of growth from each bulb then all is well, and they'll come away just fine as the days get longer.  They will benefit from a feed of general fertiliser, especially after this wet winter. If you've got some empty spaces, then it's quite likely the bulb has rotted - as happens sadly (my first effort at over winter onions was a spectacular failure)

Don't worry too much about what might have been grown where long before you got your plot - enjoy your first year and you'll have your rotations sorted for next year. 

[tosca100]

I planted hundreds of onions in autumn and have to say I was a bit worried when there was no sign of life till the beginning of this month, especially as the sets were really tiny. But we have had a really warm March and they are growing really well now.

[boddy]

Thanks that's cheered me up. As for the general fertiliser, I've got fish blood and bone, chicken pellets or nettle liquid manure - I'd have thought the nettle liquid manure  would be the easiest into get to them quickly, any thoughts?
Or should I get some growmore?

[DD.]

You have to be a bit careful in the numbers of over wintering onions you grow as they are not such good storers as spring planted ones.

[tosca100]

You have to be a bit careful in the numbers of over wintering onions you grow as they are not such good storers as spring planted ones.

Indeed, these are for a few of us. I have since planted hundreds more, red and white. I suppose I will get used to having so much space eventually! Trouble is they sell the sets for pence per kilo, and you can't waste them......

[DD.]

You could always sell the produce!

[tosca100]

You could always sell the produce!

If things go as well as last year we probably will. We can to sell that sort of thing at car boot sales to ex-pats who haven't the confidence to buy at markets. I know I am being too ambitious in the garden but I just can't get over the space

[gavinjconway]

You could always sell the produce!

Or freeze them.. just cut up and freeze.. they keep for a year at least.

[gobs]

Over-wintered crops do benefit from a green liquid feed in the spring, like nettle or seaweed; however, if your soil is sandy, something more could help. From what you have, I'd go for a thin sprinkling of chicken pellets.

[boddy]

Over-wintered crops do benefit from a green liquid feed in the spring, like nettle or seaweed; however, if your soil is sandy, something more could help. From what you have, I'd go for a thin sprinkling of chicken pellets.

Thank you chicken pellets it is! 

[Yorkshire Lass]

I have some fish blood & bone left from last year would that work too :-)

[gobs]

Probably. Someone more experienced with it, shall be able to tell. I do not use it generally, simply because it attracts wild life...

[gavinjconway]

Onions dont need high nitrogen feed like chicken pellets. If anything just a sprinkling of BFB or general fertilizer Growmore. But if you prepared the ground before planting then nothing extra now is required.