Japanese Onions-Advice please--

[Kathie]

I am 'new' to vegetable gardening-
I was quite successful this year with Peas/Broad Beans/Runner Beans and salad crops.(Beginner's Luck) I have a few Leeks in my little 'patch' which are doing well-- and thought I would try Japenese Onions during the winter months.
I started them off in November- they are showing signs of growing but are very slow--
I have never heard of these onions before and wondered if the end results were worth the long wait for maturity.
Any 'tips' or advice would be welcome.

[Snadger]

I am 'new' to vegetable gardening-
I was quite successful this year with Peas/Broad Beans/Runner Beans and salad crops.(Beginner's Luck) I have a few Leeks in my little 'patch' which are doing well-- and thought I would try Japenese Onions during the winter months.
I started them off in November- they are showing signs of growing but are very slow--
I have never heard of these onions before and wondered if the end results were worth the long wait for maturity.
Any 'tips' or advice would be welcome.

They should mature a couple of weeks before spring sown onions but won't keep as long!

[Alice]

Hello kathie, my advice to you is have some patience - we could all use some. If you planted your Japanese Onions in November - this is only January - so no long wait there. I think you will have to be patient for a few months yet, but you can lift them at any size and use as baby veg. Enjoy and let's know how you get on.

[Kathie]

Thanks for your reply-and encouragement-
I will let you know how I get on with growing these for the first time---and will try to be patient!---Kath

[supersprout]

Long may the beginner's luck continue Kathie! It's a great feeling growing your own veg isn't it - hard to describe to anyone who doesn't do it, indescribable when you first do it!

Autumn sown onions can successfully tide you over from the old (stored) hunion harvest and the start of the storers in Aug/Sept like people say, and if you grow enough you can have onions from the plot all year round. Like Alice says they can be used at any stage, you can also lift, dry, rope, and hang them in the greenhouse when you're using them during early Summer. Some of mine lasted, roped, until November last year - then (ahem) we ran out

Sets seem to produce more 'bolters' than seed, so this year I'm testing a variety of Autumn and Spring sown onions, from both seed and sets, to see which do better. Your Autumn ones may not be showing much leaf, but they should be developing strong roots to support a growth spurt in Spring. A sprinkle of Rooster organic chicken pellets in April gives them a helping hand.

We're trying both cluster sown and individually sown seed and sets. Advice on 'successional cropping' from the regulars here is to hold down the larger onions in a cluster (so as not to disturb their roots) and pull the smaller ones for Spring onions at any time from now, leaving the larger ones to mature. We might try cutting the little ones off just under the roots (to avoid soil disturbance) and see how that works too.

Hint on crop rotation: Harvesting Autumn sown onions frees up an onion-flavoured bed for late storing carrots and beet, which shouldn't get onion fly, but just in case ...

[Kathie]

Thanks Superspout-
I feel I am amongst friends on this Forum- you are all so helpful -I feel such a dim-wit asking simple questions. I do read quite a few Gardening books but find the replies from other gardeners are a great help. It also gives me encouragement to continue--thanks once again--
Yes I agree with you-I felt a sense of achievement with my first years produce even though I had one or two set-backs!--Kath

[supersprout]

You're welcome Kathie. These forums are a marvellous way of exchanging tips and hints, one of the blessings of the Internet age! Even better, people have so many different approaches to cultivation - based on experience, habit, physical ability, soil and site ... a source of wonder and delight for me too