Grow Your Own Magazine

This is my first real attempt with onions and so far so good but can anyone tell me how long they take? I planted about 6 weeks ago - they have about 12 inches of green growth and look really healthy but can't really tell if the bulbs are swelling yet. The set packet was very vague about everything!

Hi Jo!

Most Onions usually grow until midsummer time, when the leaves start to wilt and die back and the bulbs swell, at which point they are ready for harvesting! If planted late, or from seed, then they may take longer to mature and bulb up, cant really add much more advice, as its our first year too, but I'm sure one of the other more experienced grapes will be along shortly with some good advice!

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Suzanne (aka Mrs Dobby)

'Garden naked - get some colour in your cheeks'!

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I've grown Red Baron several times and I always found them to make a smaller bulb than the white varieties I've grown. Once the foliage dies down they will not grow any more and some people like to ease the root out of the ground with a garden fork at this point to allow them to dry out better (assuming of course that it has stopped raining by then!)

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Hi Jo.T, I've grown Red Baron in the past & they are usually ready towards the end of summer (August/Sept.) or whenever the leaves start to die off. Watch out though because they may bolt & go to seed before the bulbs get very big, you'll still be able to use them but the bulbs won't get any bigger once the flower stem appears. There's not much you can do about bolting which often happens if you haven't bought 'heat treated sets' or grown from seed, especially if the temperature changes a lot when they first start growing (eg. cold spring follwed by hot summer), just try & keep them watered if it gets very hot & dry & keep your fingers crossed.

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Into every life a little rain must fall.

Thanks very much for the advice - they seem quite easy and the sets were really cheap complared to price of red onions in shop so hope to try again next year if works