[Beklet]

It's been an odd year this one......

Horrendously dry for the most part - the onion sets I put in last winter (somewhat late, due to the snow!) came through, but were slow growing, then all of a sudden they disappeared, seemingly choked by some horrible mat-like weed 

In a fit of frustration with the hard baked earth, I got the Roundup on it, and it died back. A few weeks ago, I notice the onions making a comeback and now they look really healthy, but I'm not actually sure what to do with them........

It's clearly the year for comebacks as I have had somebroad bean plants appear in the last couple of weeks, despite me thinking I'd dug them all up months ago (and they're flowering) 

[Trillium]

Onions really do demand regular weeding and watering if you expect growth. Using the hoe around them (very carefully) will loosen the soil and help aerate it as well as make it easier for any water to reach the roots.

You can let your onions grow for a bit and use them as green onions but don't bother trying to grow them to full size as this is now their second growing year and they'll be going to seed (and seed onions will never keep nor or they tasty).  Do plan to clean the whole area and plant out new sets for this years crop.

[Beklet]

Onions really do demand regular weeding and watering if you expect growth. Using the hoe around them (very carefully) will loosen the soil and help aerate it as well as make it easier for any water to reach the roots.

You can let your onions grow for a bit and use them as green onions but don't bother trying to grow them to full size as this is now their second growing year and they'll be going to seed (and seed onions will never keep nor or they tasty).  Do plan to clean the whole area and plant out new sets for this years crop.

A lesson learned, though no amount of watering helped this year!!!!

That area will be used for other stuff next year - onion, shallot and garlic sets have already gone in elsewhere, and even the onion seedlings are looking OK right now.....in that case I'll probably pull them up before it gets really cold....

[Springlands]

Beklet - from reading your original post - it would appear that you sprayed the area where the onions were with Roundup and that the onions are now coming through after the Roundup has done its job. I would be a bit wary about eating the onions if they were in the ground when it was being strayed - but maybe I misunderstood your post.

[Trillium]

Here's some info on the 'life' of applied glyphosphate products:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100828230231AAXWTms

[Springlands]

Hi Trillium - even with its relatively short "ground" life I think that if I was Beklet I would not eat the onions if they were in the ground which was treated - but just my opinion.

[Beklet]

Good point.....when I sprayed the weeds there was no sign at all of any onions - believe me I looked!!! Not even a leaf! They are coming back up in areas I didn't spray either, as the horrible weed has died back.....I will be wary of the onions but because the weed was a creeper, I didn't actually spray the entire bed....either way, my zombie onions are a bit of an experiment to see what will happen to them...