[Kate58]

Hi

This may be a silly questions but, never having grown onions before, do you just get one onion from each set?  Also any recommendations for brown skinned onions?  We have recently become the proud tenants of a lotty 

[cadalot]

Yes and some of us are trying growing form seed, see http://chat.allotment-garden.org/grow-your-own/1/re-onions-from-seed-2015/117739/

[bricoop]

Try Stuttgarter sets after gardening for years find these as good as owt

[TheWhiteRabbit]

If you plant shallot sets, you get multiple shallots from one set. With onions it's one onion per set.

[Tenhens]

Hi

This may be a silly questions but, never having grown onions before, do you just get one onion from each set?  Also any recommendations for brown skinned onions?  We have recently become the proud tenants of a lotty 

No it's not a silly question , There are no silly questions!!  There must be a reason why they are called 'sets',  You mentioned that you have just got your 'lotty'   Well done and good growing.

There is plenty of information on these pages and many folk only to willing to share their  knowledge , all for a common goal.  Good luck!!

[Goosegirl]

Try Stuttgarter sets after gardening for years find these as good as owt

I always grow these too and find they have a nice, not too strong a taste with a hint of sweetness.

[sunshineband]

Sturon are reliable too and readily available, often in outlets like the Pound Shop and Wilkos right now

[DD.]

"Centurion" for me!

[fatbelly]

Struron or Setton for me.

[Kate58]

Thank you all for your advice and information.  We have gone for Stuttgarten and Sturon.  Fingers crossed that we actually get something from them.

We have tried growing various stuff at home over the years but as the garden is quite shaded nothing seemed to do much apart from a few potatoes in a tub!  The soil on the 'lotty' looks good and it is pretty well cleared of weeds so we will see how it goes.

Thanks again
Kate

[jambop]

My best ever onions were an F1 variety, think they were called mammoth,  which were grown on in an 8" pot about 100 seeds just scattered about the top and allowed to grow on until really quite large and then soaked in a bucket of water prior to washing the compost off and planting out with a fine dibber. They were planted out into the well preped soil the first week in May eight inches apart and watered until the got away. They produced lovely onions about four or more inches in diameter they kept very well. In my opinion onions from seed are far better than from sets but I can see why people use sets they are easy BUT the results are not as good IMO. Of course down here in SW France we do get very nice summers most years so getting a nice ripe onion is not too much of a challenge.

[Dave NE]

[quote author=jambop linkMy best ever onions were an F1 variety, think they were called mammoth,  which were grown on in an 8" pot about 100 seeds just scattered about the top and allowed to grow on until really quite large and then soaked in a bucket of water prior to washing the compost off and planting out with a fine dibber.

I have never grown onion seeds before but I am doing exactly as you have done, time will tell, cheers Dave

[Hampshire Hog]

I usually have Sturon onions.
A few shallots are ok but I find myself getting annoyed with the time it takes to peel them to cook.

Cheers HH

[Kate58]

I thought about shallots but as it is me who does the peeling and pickling (though can't stand eating them) I think I will give them a miss.  I know Nigella thinks they are the best thing since sliced bread and uses them instead of onions but there are plenty of other lovely things we can grow on our plot instead!

[mjg000]

The important thing, which I only realised after 3 years of poor showing, is to keep them well weeded as they don't like competition.