All year Alliums Challenge 2016/17

[Cadalot]

40 shallots grown in a module tray yesterday

[Jay-ell]

Then attack it, dear Jay-ell, Attack it

I know your game, you just want to see if I kill it off before you try yours.

To harvest or not not to harvest that is the question
Whether it is better to play safe and cut short at the soil
Or dig deep down down into the soil
and in doing so exposure the shank
To grow or sleep, cut down too soon?
Or in Mays fair days a six foot Bloom

[Jay-ell]

I have done the deed, didst thou not hear a noise?

The Babington has fallen - cut down in its prime.

But, gods be with it, it may return like the phoenix from the fire springing aloft with a great bloom and in doing so be reborn a hundred times.

Or to put it another way I've harvested it today and now wait to see if it regrows or send up a flower from the bulb and produce bulbils. I also harvested an elephant garlic.

[Jay-ell]

Oh yeah, I also transplanted a load of Welsh Onion seedlings that have been growing over winter in the greenhouse - about 40 white ones and 100 red ones.

Hopefully these will provide me with a steady stream of scallions through the year, especially with the other small bunch of white welsh and the small bunch of Peruti I have growing.

Now I have to re-home the 30 or so Walking Onions, 9 clumps of chives, Chinese chives and 300 little leeklets and the green house will be cleared.

[Jay-ell]

Oh one more thing - I've got elephant garlic growing. No surprise there as I've already said that I have it growing for leeks, growing for garlic and growing in pots.

This is growing in the bed I had it in last year. It's also growing in the bed I had it in the year before. As well as producing a bulb which splits into 4 or 5 large cloves it also produces corm like bulbs off the mother bulb which can drop off when you harvest it. These are what's growing 2 years after harvest.

This year they won't produce cloves, rather they produce a large monobulb which next year will split into bulbs. They will, however, produce the corms this year - I know this because last year I grew some corms and they produced a monobulb with little corms attached - these corms are growing in a pot.

So I guess I ought to dig out these 13 bonus plants and riddle the soil, popping the plants into another bucket along with any additional corms I find.

[veggiechicken]

So a permanent elephant garlic bed is a goer? That's what I'm aiming for - and a permanent garlic bed and a permanent Babington bed etc........

[Jay-ell]

So a permanent elephant garlic bed is a goer? That's what I'm aiming for - and a permanent garlic bed and a permanent Babington bed etc........

Same here, maybe more a continual supply of garlics to plant out (I've 3 heads of store bought garlic planted in autumn planted as heads, I'm going to let them grow then later on see what happens if I divide and replant then - who knows).

Perennial Garlic
Elephant Garlic as a leek
Perennial Elephant Garlic Patch

[Jay-ell]

The Phoenix Arises

it's alive
It's Alive
IT'S ALIVE!!!!

Well actually they both are
The Babington Leek I harvested the other week


And the Elephant Garlic I harvested at the same time


Pulled up the last of the regular leeks as a couple were starting to bolt and they were getting rust. Topped and tailed ended up with 8 lbs.

[Jay-ell]

I know your game, you just want to see if I kill it off before you try yours.

To harvest or not not to harvest that is the question
Whether it is better to play safe and cut short at the soil
Or dig deep down down into the soil
and in doing so exposure the shank
To grow or sleep, cut down too soon?
Or in Mays fair days a six foot Bloom

Well, it's now putting up a flower stem so I guess you can have your leek and eat it. I was wondering about letting the Babingtons flower this year or to cut the scapes off so that they can build up the bulb but as I've already tried eating it and it survived it'll be interesting to see what the bulb is like after it's flowered.

I may nip the scapes off the others though as the plants that formed from the dividing bulbs are alot bigger and stronger than the plants from the bulbils which are tiny in comparison - so if I get them to focus on the bulbs then next year they may give me another bulb split and more mature plants quickly.

One of the Elephant garlic is throwing up a flower as well. I think it's the one I shaved last year which grew from a corm. I could deflower it and let it concentrate on the bulb, but then again that's probably what I'll do with the other plants from the cloves I sowed (plus the ones I didn't sow but grew from corms anyway) so I'll let it go two years on the trot and shave it again. Then I'll dig it up to see what the bulb looks like.

The other perennial leeks and garlic are also bolting so no more harvesting of them (possible a few scapes but I want to see the flowers on some of them and maybe save some seed). The three cornered leeks are looking the worse for wear, theres still some good flowers and flower stems but the leaves are dying back now so only a couple of harvest weeks for these I think.

Chives are romping away and loads of flower buds so chive flowers will soon be on the menu (I harvested one today and it was a lovely sweet onion sensation). At the other end of the plot the Bute Isle Blush chives are also in flower - I'll leave these and see if I can collect seed. Can you shave chives?

[vixylix]

I've just re-read the first post of this thread and I had genuinely forgotten where this started - and thought it was just Jay keeping a record of his multiple alliums.

I haven't sown OR picked any alliums - although spring onions still stand a chance.

Did anyone else?!

[Jay-ell]

Is that anybody else apart from me?

I've managed to get through till now picking mainly leeks and three cornered leeks. These are now gone (annual leeks) or going (the others) so I'm entering the allium lean time soon and have to exist on chives for a while (I've only got 10 square foot of these) until the Welsh onions & Egyptian onions are at a level to be able to harvest from.

Don't think I'll achieve harvesting alliums every week of the year but I reckon I'll get close.

[veggiechicken]

I'm still here but I don't post much - as you know

Here's some I picked last week:-



Picking the leeks as they start to bolt. Same with last years shallots.
Lots of spring onions from my mass accidental sowing.
Three cornered leeks looking a bit beaten down with all the recent rain.
Elephant garlic very sturdy.
Babington leeks springing up in their bed and some seedlings ready to plant out.
Chives in flower.

I've had some so-called baby leeks (Atal) in a tub in the GH overwinter but decided to plant them out to grow bigger. Found this little fella amongst them, having babies!
He's been potted up to see what happens next



Lots of garlic and onions coming on.

[Snoop Puss]

At the moment I'm harvesting calçots (leek-cum-onion usually BBQed here, but I use them for anything) and small overwintering onions (golf-ball sized, really sweet - great for salads).
The leeks are all finished (the last of them were chopped up by a tractor, but never mind).

But no, over the winter, there were some (but not many) weeks when I didn't pick a fresh allium, just used up the stored onions and garlic. Still got some onions left, but the garlic aren't fit to use so I should really get around to chucking them out.

Edited to add:

I've just been back and reread the whole thread. I'd forgotten all the ins and outs. Heroic efforts from Jay-ell, VC and Cadalot. I can't compete with you, but far this year, I've sown:

Sultan and Megaton leeks. Just about all of them died in the care of Mr Snoop. So will have to buy in more from a nursery, variety unknown.
My first round of shallots died likewise. But currently have Matador, Rouge de Niort and Zeebrune growing from seed plus Jermor from sets.
Currently have Borettana small onions growing, with Paris Silverskin and Cipolline still to sow.
Big onions: the overwintering onions are known here literally as "Tender White". Still to go in are Fuentes, Figueres and Moradas de Amposta. But I'm cheating with those and buying them in as seedlings.
Also have some garlic in the ground, which at the moment is looking pretty good. Much thicker necks than last year's and a lovely green.

[Jay-ell]

calçots sound interesting. May have to get some seed for next year

[Snoop Puss]

I'm due back to see my Mum in July and August. What I'll do is send some calçot seeds in to the seed swap circle. They take quite a lot of time and land to grow from seed. I grow them from onion bulbs, which are readily available here mid to late summer.

Essentially, to grow them from seed, you start in the spring and grow an onion, which you lift around mid summer. You then replant that onion mid-late summer/early autumn about two-thirds down in a furrow, 30 cm or so apart (they have very extensive roots). The onion sprouts shoots and it's those that you eat in late winter/early spring. The reason for planting them in a furrow is that you earth them up to get the maximum white length possible.

The traditional way to eat them is barbecued, peel off all the burnt stuff and then eat the white fleshy part calçot sauce (very like romesco sauce). Mine have now bolted, but they're perfect all right as sweet onions for cooking purposes. They make a really lovely sweet-flavoured risotto.