[Eblana]

Hi Folks, looking for some advice on over winter onion sets I have bought (they are to supplement the seed grown main crop).  I have bought three varieties - Troy, Winter Red and Senshyu.  The Troy are the normal size that I get and the Winter Red are fairly big so I have had to go back for a second lot to fill the space that I had allotted to red onions.  The one I have a real problem with are the Senshyu as that bag is very mixed going from really nice sized down to the size of a pea.  There are an awful lot of the pea sized ones.  I am just wondering if I should bother planting these little ones - will the amount to much (I don't want to waste the space if all I will get out of them are very small onions, I would rather leave them out and do more seed grown main crop instead).  If I don't plant them is there anything I can do with them?  Would they work as salad onions if I planted them in pots?

[Annen]

I read somewhere that in onion sets, the smaller the better but in garlic cloves, then the bigger the better.  Not sure why though

[AnneB]

I believe the larger sets are prone to bolting and that small to medium size are best.

[Kleftiwallah]

DO NOT just push them into the ground, doing this compresses the soil beneath the set,  just dig a small hole.

Cheers,  Tony.

[New shoot]

Would they work as salad onions if I planted them in pots?

Yes and you can harvest them early next spring.  I always sort the tiny sets out when I am planting overwintering onions and plant them closer together as a little patch at the end.  You might lose a few that rot, rather than grow, but its less faff than bothering with pots.  When there is not much else to harvest, a bunch of these is always welcome