[real novice]

hello everyone, thanks for your shared expertise and knowledge; i have been reading but havnt been brave enough to write lol. I have almost finished eating my first years crop and was delighted with most of the results, i grew cabbage, cauliflower (they were the best result) , carrots, onions, potatoes, lettuce, tomatoes (not so good, think they missed me when i went on holiday), peppers (mostly good except the odd one invaded by earwigs grrrrrrrrr) and strawberries. i so enjoyed it i decided to take a corner of the garden and get a polytunnel and have now planted more veg to see what happens with winter growing .... as i say complete novice, but feel i have little to lose planting from seed.
my question now is ... as i reduce my onion supply which i loved i have been trying to buy onion sets locally and they laughed at me planting onions now ... i see they are available ... but they work out expensive when i buy online with p & p ( i am in nr. ireland ) when i told the man in the garden shop he advised me to buy extra in the new year and plant later on ... is this possible? thanks in advanve for any replies .

[DD.]

Hi real novice and welcome.

I think your man in the shop needs to go back to shop school.

Winter (Japanese) onions are now coming onto the market for autumn planting, I've just bought mine from a local nursery, £2.35 bought me 200 sets and I agree with you about the price in catalogues.

If you buy extra in the spring, they will not last until the autumn and in any case will not be the varities suitable for winter growing.

The larger garden centres, such as Wyevale, that we have over here have sold them in the past, but are more expensive than the example I gave, although postage will not come into the equation.

PM me if you have further problems obtaining any.

[real novice]

thanks DD, i am bringing a friends daughter to uni the weekend of the 18th .. to believe it or not sutton bonnighton, believe we will be near your part of the woods ... will it be ok to plant out towards end of september ... i could get some when i am over ... hopefully get to stop at a garden / coffee shop, they can grab a drink while i browse lol