Kitchen Garden Forum

Glad I decided to plant some more onion sets this year as my overwintered ones are trying to flower. I was concerned with all the rain & the exceedingly mild weather they might get stressed & it appears they have. Unlike a bit later when they flower these are way to small to do much with. I have nipped the flower off so will see if they can make a bit more size but not too hopeful!

It's the red ones to date but if they follow the usual summer pattern the others won't be far behind. Anyone else's misbehaving? Do you think it was the weather or just unlucky?

Westi

Afternoon Westi, i have just pinched two flower buds out on my white onions, so you are not alone. I gave up growing Red over-wintering onions, for just this reason.

Well at least if they don't perform will give me room to plant my long standing crops. 2 lots of onion beds uses up quite a bit of room & I'm finding it hard to find space in rotation. Maybe they'll be just big enough to pickle so not all lost yet!

Westi

Dear Westi,
I have found that if you plant onions too early in the autumn they will put on too much growth and then they go on to flower the following spring. For me in Cambridge I don't plant until the average date of the first heavy frost which is is about the 1st of Nov. I know this works because I have used onions sets from the same bag as neighbouring plotholders and they planted them as soon as they got theirs and I waited. They had lots of flowers and I didn't.
That said I agree with OH, pick off the flower heads (just below the flower bud so that you don't leave a hollow stem which can fill with water and cause rot) and there will still be a fairly decent amount of onion to use although they do not tend to keep nearly as well as normal onions do. These onions are the ones to use first along with your glut of courgettes and tomatoes to make soup or stew packs for the freezer.
Regards Sally Wright.

Thank you Sally.

I did plant quite late for me but before November. Do they actually need a frost to develop properly? If that is the case I don't think we got one that was at all significant down here over the winter. What they did get was lots of rain & even on my sandy soil there was standing water which is why I was concerned they would be stressed.

The ones in the new bed look fine & only a couple of inches difference in foliage height from the over wintered ones. I'm watching my garlic closely as well!

Westi