Knowing yer onions...

You might think there's not much to know about the common-or-garden onion. Don't be so sure. But (oddly in my view), they are a under-rated as an allotment crop, as some people think growing onions - cheap to buy and widely available - is a waste of time, money, and effort. I haven't done the sums on the economics, and suspect the many small costs of growing your own (too many to mention, let alone calculate) mount up pretty fast. But, we eat a LOT of onions, and I like the idea of generating our own supply of something we eat all the time. 

That said, I only grew a few this year, picking up just one net of red onion sets (baby bulbs) for £1.99 figuring it was a steal at that price, even though I hadn't specifically planned on planting any*. 

Something I didn't realise then was that they were an 'autumn' onion - yes yes, I failed to read the label - but I'm glad I did. Supposedly they should have been planted the previous autumn, to overwinter and then give an early crop the next year. But as you can see, they did pretty well**.

Here is what I have left from this year's February (I think) planting.

Not many - but we have been using them straight out of the ground before I decided to pull them all up. Pretty clear though that this little lot definitely won't be seeing us through the winter! 

Lesson 1: If you want lots you need to plant LOTS - well, duh... believe me though, a net full of onion sets feels like a lot when it's you planting them out - and, be sure to plant in spring AND autumn.

I decided to pull the remainder of my little patch up a while back as I started to fear the very hot, dry weather might do some damage. On reflection I probably could have left them in to 'cure' a bit longer, let all that juicy green growth die off a bit more while they were still in the ground***. 

I also grew other onion relatives, garlic and shallots: the varieties escapes me though, I managed to lose the labels. Both were planted last autumn in my (slightly) raised bed at home. 

A knowledgeable gardening friend noted that I had planted the shallots very deep, which may explain why they're a bit under-sized. They're fine, nice and clean and firm, just not very big. The soil in the bed needs a bit of improving, but I now think they probably haven't had enough light due to being planted too deep. 

Lesson 2: Plant your onion/shallot sets 'shallow' ie don't completely bury them. Next time I'll keep their papery little noses poking up out of the soil. 

Last but not least, I also have these Musselburgh leek seedlings on the go, a first try at growing them for me. They're not quite ready to be planted out properly just yet, and running a bit late in the year for it too, but I think they'll be ok - as long as the summer lasts long enough and we have a mild autumn.

I definitely know my onions a bit better now. They're easy enough to grow, that much is for sure, and they'll suffer less than optimal conditions too. An under-rated allotment crop in my view.

*At the time we hadn't made much progress with clearing our plot, and despite all the gardening wisdom advising pre-planning layout of beds with a view to managing crop rotation - I sort of understand that stuff and why it matters, but so far it makes me feel a bit cross-eyed if I think about it too much - I just didn't know how far we'd get. So the onion patch was an ad-hoc impulse planting AND in fact was the first thing to 'go in'. I just really wanted to put something in the ground and sort of 'claim' the land!

**The only difference I can see between 'autumn' and 'spring planted' (not the mini leek salad type) seems to be hardiness. Autumn varieties should reliably survive the winter, and then give you an earlier crop by the next summer.

A canny gardener will extend their onion harvest with a spring planting for cropping/storing later in summer/early autumn, to see you through winter.

***I knew I'd jumped the gun a bit, but I wanted to make a last, late sowing of beetroot and that was the best available spot.