[sweet nasturtium]

I don't get it - why plant Japanese onions which take 46 weeks to mature, now, when you could plant seeds in February (much cheaper), which will mature in 24 weeks?

Doesn't make sense to me, feel free to clarify.

[muntjac]

cos ya can n the spanish come in and cover the period inbetween lol, i dont normally plant over winter ones iether i just grow loads of summer ones ,now put in a load , :roll:

[WG.]

Jap onions will mature in mid-July which is about 36 weeks (most of it winter).  Freeing up beds earlier.

February-sown onion seed would mature in mid-late September.  (Unless you plant spring onion seed).

[sweet nasturtium]

Jap onions will mature in mid-July which is about 36 weeks (most of it winter).  Freeing up beds earlier.

Not what it says on the RHS website
but maybe they were talking about 46 weeks the cold South.

and 24 weeks from Feb is August.  I still don't get it.

[WG.]

Thought you didn't know your onions ...

Not what it says on the RHS website

Exactly when does the RHS tell you to plant them then?  Not mid-Nov I suspect.

and 24 weeks from Feb is August.  I still don't get it.

Well perhaps if you tell me what variety you are planting as seed.  I should have asked more explicitly in my last reply.  :roll:  :roll:

[gobs]

I just wanted to add that to your reply WG. I grow Golden Bear, which is a fast maturing type, sow Feb, harvest mid, end Summer.

And winter onions usually ready here in June, which as said, perfect for giving space to tender summer crops.

[gobs]

And anyways, 46 weeks, that's in my book most of the year, it a typo.

[sweet nasturtium]

OK I take it back it wasn't RHS it was this lot:

Know their onions

It seems it depends on the variety so I'm going to go and read some seed packets.
 

[gobs]

Then I got to take it back as well, 'cos specialized growers might well do just that. Plant 1st thing in September, harvest from mid July.

But as WG said, time is no importance here, longer as they might seem, it's winter, not many a thing wants to be out there.

[sweet nasturtium]

I do like a person with common sense.  Why make them suffer outside all winter?

[gobs]

Why make them suffer outside all winter?

They don't suffer, they are not annuals, just grown like that.

Because then you have fresh onions(whether fully ripe or big or not)from spring through summer, when your stored ones are over and summer ones not ready yet.

Can be substituted with welsh onions, which if grown well, get very pungent indeed for cooking purposes.

[Rob the rake]

If you dry your jap onions well and store them somewhere cool and dry they can last until December, although Oct-Nov is more usual.
This leaves you all of your maincrop onions to last you through the winter.
Well dried Turbo maincrop onions will keep until June, by which time the next crop of Jap onions will be almost ready.

This way, you'll almost never run out unless there's a crop failure.

Rob