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Gardening Tips - Know Your Onions
Onions are a superb crop for the organic grower - always in demand, available for sale over a long period and widely used in all types of cooking.
There are many methods of cultivating onions and it is up to the individual grower to choose which suits him or her best. Onions can be grown from seed or sets, they can be single or multi sown, grown in the open or through black plastic mulch or ground cover. A little attention to detail will pay off in the end as onions do require good growing conditions. They will provide a crop on most soils but the grower will want a heavy crop to maximise returns. The hotel and restaurant trade take large onions (less prep time) and the crop is usually sold by weight. Small to medium onions also have a ready market for general shop sales so there should be no waste. You can choose from globe shaped or flat types and as well as the usual golden or yellow colours there are red and silver varieties.
Onion sets
I have tried all growing methods down the years and at this stage I prefer the multi sown crop best. My best yields have been achieved this way and there is a much wider choice of cultivars available when growing from seed. However, onions grown from sets are probably still the favourite with gardeners growing for home use and with some commercial growers. Organic sets are readily available from Fruithill Farm and should be sown into well-composted, firm soil. Birds can be a real nuisance so press the sets below the surface out of sight. After all the sets sprout they tend to leave the crop alone. After this, weed control will be of paramount importance as at no stage will they suppress weeds by themselves.
Sets can also be sown through black plastic mulch, which offers good weed control, but there are a few points to watch out for here. The ground cover should be firmly anchored as it must not move, otherwise sets could be starved for light and you will have gaps or plants growing at an angle. Even with mulch the plants will still need to be weeded once or twice where the bulbs grow through the holes. If weeds are allowed to become too big, the bulb can easily be pulled out along with the weed, so weed in time.
One of the reasons a lot of gardening books recommend sets is to avoid onion flies - the seed sown crop being more vulnerable. However in many years of growing I have never had the displeasure of making their acquaintance.
Block sowing
My first experience of multi-sown onions was when my late father bought an old soil blocker from a conventional grower in County Meath and tried this method. Five or so full sized onions growing together was a fascinating sight, and after a few years of growing sets through mulch, this year I went back to the multi seed crop and was well rewarded. Some of the advantages are: less work when the onions are growing in a group especially in regard to weed control; quick harvesting; less transplanting; and a large choice of varieties. The seeds are sown in one and a half inch blocks, five seeds to a block in early March. Make sure the seeds are in the centre hole of each block and cover with compost or sand. The blocks will be ready for transplanting in early to mid-April. Take a weed strike and transplant the blocks at twelve by twelve inch spacing into a clean seed bed. If the soil is dry (unlikely at this time of year), water to soil capacity a few days previously. At this spacing you will be able to wheel hoe both ways, making light work of weeds. The crop will need hand hoeing or weeding two or three times depending on how clean your soil is, but once the onions start to swell and push each other apart there is little room left for weeds to flourish. I aim to have a pathway every five rows to allow access for weeding as it becomes difficult to get in amongst the crop in the later stages without trampling the plants. Contrary to general advice to bend over the tops in August to assist maturity I allow them to go over naturally. There is some evidence to suggest that the practice can encourage disease. Anyhow do not delay harvesting too long. As soon as half the crop has gone over, lift for drying. We do this in a poly tunnel but if the weather is good by all means do it outside. However, do keep the crop off the soil or they will start to root again if left too long. If bulbs are left too long before harvesting they become discoloured and less attractive leading to increased sale preparation time.
Rotation
A point worth making here is the place onions occupy in your rotation. Studies carried out at the University of Rhode Island in the USA proved that onions do very poorly if grown after a brassica crop in a rotation and are best preceded by lettuce, courgettes or pumpkins. Try this and see how you get on!
As for red onions, I have yet to try these multi seeded but will next season. I have grown red onions from sets with mixed success. They are certainly more prone to bolting but do fetch a good price. I managed to grow a good crop of white onions but they rotted very quickly and skin colour was poor. This year we grew Hysam F1 and in the past grew Hygro F1 - both excellent. I have not yet grown red onions from seed - roll on the spring.
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what is the above. I am trying to make my own seed from the onions that went to seed, any tips do you have a phone number to dsicuss