Kitchen Garden Forum

Hi all
Just lifted by pickling onions for the year(Shakespeare Brown Pickling, sown like spring onions, with no thinning) and the sizes were very disappointing at least half were too small. I was wondering if I could keep these small onions for next year and use as shallots. All thoughts and comments welcome.

Happy gardening

Geoff

Hi Geoff,
Quite honestly I do not think that is worth the effort. Having said that let me explain.
I must admit that I have never tried to use the tiddlers as sets the following year for pickling onions but I have grown a few mature Red Onions with the view of getting seed and that is what I got and every one I planted went to seed very early on in the season which to me was fine.
I grow main onions from seed in modules and the following year I duly sowed my seed but the germination was so poor I scrapped them. With your onions I suspect that because they have matured, however small they may be, they will go to seed almost as soon as the have grown to any height.
This is probably how onions grew in the wild but who knows. By all means do an experiment but I would not put any dependency on a crop.
Even though the pickling onions are smallish I would thin them to something like an 11/2" apart. By all means sow them quite liberally and use the thinnings as salad onions.

While we are on the subject of pickling onions, can anyone tell me where i can buy pickling onion seed buy weight instead of little packets, i would prefer either brown pickling SY300 or Shakespeare Brown Pickling.
I eagerly await the abundunce of replies.

Kind regards Old Herbaceous.

Theres no fool like an old fool.

Nicky's Seeds appear to have something along these lines, go to http://www.nickys-nursery.co.uk/seeds/p ... .htm#BV030

Still a packet but 500 seeds, hope this helps.

Dear Chantal it certainly does help, thanks awfully old girl.

Kind regards Old Herbaceous.

Theres no fool like an old fool.

Can I take it you are going to get pickled again OH...or should it be 'going to get pickling again?

I wouldn't like to be you OH when Chanters reads that last posting of yours. If there's one word she doesn't like - it's 'old'.

Morning Weed, i must admit i do like a dark rum once in a while.
Dear Tigger, well even famous people have to face up to getting old, and our own Chantal is no exception.

Kind regards Old Herbaceous.

Theres no fool like an old fool.

Hi OH,
The saying goes like this: When you are in a hole stop digging!!
JB.

I'd rather be old than old AND pickled

You lot really are the best.

Kind regards Old Herbaceous.

Theres no fool like an old fool.

I was always led to believe that the process of pickling was to preserve the item being pickled!

This site may be of help as well:
http://www.seeds-by-size.co.uk/ although there seems to be a lot of pages!!
Good luck

Cheers Dopolous, very helpful.

Kind regards Old Herbaceous.

Theres no fool like an old fool.