Anyone got there onion sets?

I haven't looked yet Snadger, considering trying them this year for the first time so will maybe take a wander to the garden centre later to see if they have any. Any recommendations for best types?

Ive been thinking the exact same thing myself, i went to a number of large garden centers last weekend looking for onions and garlic and zilch!!!

Has to be the original and in my opinion the best Shirl............ Sensyhu!

Thanks Snadger, will keep that in mind when I go looking then. Are they a big / strong onion?

I was thinking of buying mine online this year.

Have never got garlic right, now I know to plant Oct/Nov am looking forward to trying again.

I was thinking of these for garlic

Dobies: Garlic Lover's Collection: A great selection of bulbs for the garlic lover!

Is this a reasonable selection??

Onions they have Radar, Senshyu Yellow, and Dobies Autumn Champion.

Other posts have gone for the Senshyu as well, so will give those a try

i have a basic 3 year rotation here with a separate bed for onions
if i'm planting onions this autumn, where should i plant them???

The problem with buying this way is that postage costs can sometimes be prohibitive!

Defintely, however for my needs, the postage is a mere 95p

Not worth getting out of my chair for, never mind starting the car and braving the local traffic

I'm not getting sets this year; all my next year's onions were sown about a month ago. I've already started transplanting them into their final positions around the lottie.

I did get the allium christophi's [sp] that were ordered from the daily mirror offer last week though - and the black tulip bulbs that came free. So bulbs are out there, perhaps just not the actual onions yet.

I ordered my sets from Marshalls, they've taken the money but no sign of the sets yet

im moving house on monday, well leaving my current home in birmingham but my mom and i are relocating to dorset, dad is staying with my veg raised beds in birmingham and commuting for the next year or so until he can move his business southwards.

hopefully within the next few weeks most of my veg can be harvested, freeing up my beds and making them less maintenance for my dad, who will be bringing my harvest down to me at weekends!

But im thinking it would be nice to keep the beds on, im a simple hassle free form that i can maintain now and then.

im hoping to also get an allotment in dorset and am considering moving the link a board bed frames down to the allotment if i get one, but reconed i could cary on using my beds with un contained sides.

im thinking for the winter it could be nice to get a large amount of onions in the ground, most likely from sets and perhaps some garlic too (this is my first season of growing, so its all a bit new). I may also sow a cover crop/green manure on some of the beds and may have some cabbage to overwinter. then in the spring im hoping to do all 4 beds with potatoes- nice and simple for my dad, and will make them pretty productive!

does all that sound reasonable?

if so, which variety of onion is best, and when is best to get my sets in the ground, and whats the general care advice?

because i was at uni till may my parents got my beds started for me, inluding putting them together and bringing in the soil, and planted some bought onion seedling plugs for me, and as such, i dont know what variety they are! i also bought some more seedlings later on which have turned out to actually be leeks, stupid garden center! However, i have seen people grow huge onions, and i would really like to grow some of those if its possible- does anyone know of any big varieties like that? and also of any nice red onion varieties (for either autumn or spring sowing, same with the big ones if they arn't suitable for autumn sowings just say!).

i had a go with some garlic sets in may too, but the garlic bulbs in the pack were rotten! ive managed to salvage just a couple of plants from it, but they dont look healthy- but ive since learnt autumn sowing is the way to go with those! hopefully i'll have more success!


i love onion... it must be the vegetable i use most in my cooking!!!

I thought onion sets were not available till september

You could be right there jackie j. No sign of sets in either of my closest garden centres today.

Didn't see onion sets (or garlic) in the GC today. And my packets say not to sow seed until Sept! I thought Oct / Nov is more the time for putting in sets? In which case September sounds like the right time for them to start appearing in the shops.