should onions and spuds flower?

Pinch off the flowers, they are not doing you any good.

I've never heard of pinching out the flowers and have never had a problem. 

The flowers on the potato, as far as I know, don't negatively influence the crop.  However, leaving the flower on an onion will make a difference to the bulb so they are usually best removed.  It is best to use these onions first as they do not store well apparently.

I look forward to seeing the flowers on my potatoes.... it's a sign that the spuds are developing below the ground.

This year I have white and pale purple / mauve tatty flowers - I've never removed them. Crops have always been fine. 

Flowers on onions - not a good sign at all  Snap them off... lift and use as soon as you like.... as has been said they wont store well and there will be a tough core developing. 

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[Once in a blue moon the odd onion or leek flower might be left just because they look pretty... but I'll bet there's someone who knows a reason why you should avoid doing this  ]

Dont forget Learner not all spuds flower!!!!

The ba-lambs! I'll have to take a closer look.... I had a feeling there was a bit of pretty missing on one of those rows 

My spud patch is a mass of pretty flowers right now. I've never removed them and always had more spuds than I can eat so don't see the point of all the effort of picking the flowers. I'd rather be pulling weeds