The Early Onion Thread

[zazen999]

This is THE place for all things onion.

From now, you can sow your maincrop onions and put them outside once the risk of frost has passed.

Once they have germinated, they can go into a frost free greenhouse or a coldframe; try not to let them actually freeze though....

I usually sow little and often, so that I have a few pots indoors germinating then they go into the greenhouse until spring.

Let the fun commence!

[Alison]

I only got around to sorting the seed heads from my Up to Date a few days before Christmas and now need to think about planting them

[poly]

I'm hoping to get started in the next few days, but I've not decided with what yet

[pjh75]

Is this just for seeds?

I planted out 50 Troy sets, 50 Electric sets and 10 Jermor sets (and some garlic) at the end of November... finally went out yesterday to survey what the frost / snow had left behind and most of them were dislodged and lying on top of the soil. I tried to push them back in again, but the soil underneath still felt very hard. I don't think they had enough time to stabilise themselves before the bad weather came and I am quite worried about them.

[Alison]

This is just seeds, your setts either need to be in the ground now or waiting until later when it's warmer although you can plant the sets early in pots with protection to get a bit of an early start (although you run the risk of bolting if you do this)

[iGrowVeg]

Hi all,

I'm attempting to grow my onions from seed this year for the first time, is there any advice you can give to a beginner? I was going to start them off in the cold greenhouse in small pots, will that give them enough room to grow in? And what month would I plant them into my veg plot?

Also mentioned above that we can sow main crop onions now on, is there another type of onion other than maincrop and what varieties can people recommend?

Thanks in advance.

[binley100]

I start mine off on the kitchen windowsill covered by plastic. Then when germinated take the cover off, then they move into the conservatory for a bit until I feel I can risk the greenhouse The gh is unheated and is away from the house and things have been known to freeze in there . The conservatory is also unheated but being attached to the house stays a bit warmer.

[Pompeylottie]

I've sown today a small seedtray with Bedfordshire onion seeds, in a windowsill propagator alongside my tomatoes. I sowed a few seeds in a flower pot on 21.12.10 - the shortest day, on the windowsill, they came up Friday night and are about 1/2"high now.
It's all so exciting isn't it? Or is that just me!

[binley100]

Today I sowed a small trya of Befordshire Champion, a few Globo and a few Red Baron, also some mixed onion seeds that I was kindly given ... They are all on the kitchen windowsill ........

[Two_Sheds]

I sowed four pots each of Kelsae and Rouge de Florence, in heated prop (not necessary, but I wanted quick germination)

[StephenH]

I've just posted the following on the 'What did you sow today?' thread, and it is also obviously appropriate here:

I sowed my onions ('Ailsa Craig') on Monday, in home-made seed medium*, in two trays, in a heated propagator. I made the medium from half-and-half leafmould and garden compost, both sieved (although the result was still pretty rough-textured). I consulted my books on compost for recipes, and that was the simplest, so I went for it. Comments from experienced makers of their own growing media welcomed. One seedling has appeared, but I think it's a weed, not an onion, although it does appear to be a monocot. At any rate, it shows that seedlings will germinate in the mix!

[LolaLou]

I'm attempting to grow my onions from seed this year for the first time, is there any advice you can give to a beginner? I was going to start them off in the cold greenhouse in small pots, will that give them enough room to grow in? And what month would I plant them into my veg plot?

Hello - I grew onion seeds for the first time last year and they are a real treat to watch germinate (they grow in little 'loops' and then the end with the seed case on pings out the ground and up they grow into their grass like ways). My expert tips are: germinate them indoors or somewhere slightly 'warmish' but get them into the cool greenhouse asap after that (mine didn't germinate when outside in the unheated greenhouse but shot up once I moved them indoors for a few days); I planted in seed trays then moved them on to little pots to grown on - this year I will sow a few per little pot and use the strongest as the potting on was very time consuming; I planted them out in April. Hope this helps!

[Two_Sheds]

Rouge de Florence are up (after 4 days), and now moved to the cold greenhouse

[tiachica]

I sowed some white onions today in a tray. in the spare bedroom on the window sill for now.

[Chopper]

Being very new to all this, I bought some sets and planted them in a raised bed in my polytunnel. Two rows four foot long. I left a gap of about 4 weeks between each row. Bit of an experiment for me. I also planted a four foot row of garlic in the same bed. I built the polytunnel in September 2010. As part of my plan for the whole garden.

I have some more sets to plant outside once the frost has past. Never having done this before, are onions easy to propogate from seed? Is now the right time to sow them?

The polytunnel is not heated. I have a small lean to greenhouse that I have scrubbed out, thoroughly cleaned. I did have a couple of bike engines in there but even with regular watering they didn't do anything!!

I also have a large snake vivarium. My snake died and it was going spare. I am planning to build some wooden racks inside the tank. I have a small coldframe parafin heater on the way which I intend to put on the floor of the tank. This will be my propogator inside the greenhouse. I think I will be able to get about 12 full sized seed trays once I have made the racks. The top of the tank is mesh for ventilation and there is a mesh strip round the sides of the tank.

This is my first full season as a serious gardener, so everything I do this year I am keeping notes about what I do, when and how. I want to grow as much of my own veg as possible.

Regards

Chopper.