Kitchen Garden Forum

Hi this is my 1st time growing most things.
I put some onion bulbs in way back in Jan, in the hope of a very early crop, they are growing and are about 1 ft tall and the bulb is about 2-3 inches wide, my questions is how do I know when to pick/dig them up, and are they supposed to have a flower, as I think that one may be on its way, should I dig that one up? They are white onions if that help. Hope someone can shed some light on the matter as I am confused.
Skinny

Hi SB,
The very last thing you want on onions is a flower which renders the onion almost useless!
When onions are ready for picking the foliage will begin to yellow and flop. When this occurs bend the foliage down to the ground and leave until the process has finished and then loosen them in the ground and allow them to dry on the plot. If the weather becomes very inclement then gather your crop and dry them under cover allowing an extremely good airflow to them at all times. When they have dried out then the old foliage will fairly easily part from the onion. If you want to put them up into onion strings do not take the foliage off but string them and then trim the access foliage off later on.
JB.

Sorry for jumping into this thread- can you pinch off a flower/seed head when it is just starting to form to save your onions ?

Dear Mike,
yes you can, carefully cut off the flower head underneath itself just where it joins it's stem, if you cut any lower it leaves a hollow tube which will become waterlogged and spoil the onion. When the bulb had formed you will need to use them first and remove the chewy flower stalk before chopping but it is worth doing if you only have a limited number of onions. I find these onions are useful for making bulk freezing things such as soup and stews. Alternativly you can chop, blanch and freeze them on their own.
Regards Sally Wright.

Thanks for the reply Sally, will give it a go
Cheers
Mike

Onions that have tried to flower will not store properly but they can still be used. There is no reason why you can't use this type of onion 'in the green' in much the same way as you would use a spring onion.

John

Its been pretty dry on the Yorks Plain, yesterday was the first rain since the last week in April. It appears to have set off a high number of bolting amongst the onions all over the lottie site, my loss is 25% and I think that is typical for our site.

The rain has been beautiful and soft to start off, then heavy during the night and today my only concern is the humidity.

My red onions are bolting too
Any reason not just to let them flower? Penny

Hi many thanks for the replies all are very useful, I will try and cut off the flower and see what happens, if I cut it wrong and it leaves the hollow stem, then its dig it up and use it like a spring onion, either way I get to eat the thing which is great.
I too have had soooooooooooo much rain it is unreal, I live on the south east coast and I think that we had a whole months rain in 2 nights, then a further storm last night. The runners loved it, but I better go and check the peas and make sure they have good drainage left, because the rain was heavey. Will keep you all posted on the onion issue, and let you know how I get on. S.B

my onions are so small that I think I will just have the flowers.and next time remember to give them some water too when it is dry!!!
regards and thanks for help
Penny