Our Onion Story

Onions are a larder staple in our house, almost everything I cook begins life with chopped onions and garlic before herbs and spices transform it into the dish of the day. However, it has not always been like this. As a child I hated onions, to me they were slimy vegetables which had no place whatsoever on my plate and I would spend hours picking each minuscule piece out of my dinners. Nowadays they are the first vegetable (along with garlic) we plan on planting despite the fact that we often had mixed success. This year we decided on trialing a few different planting regimes to see what really suited our environment and where we were most likely to succeed.

Way back in Februrary our onions arrived, Hercules, Centurion, Sturon and Golden Gourmet Shallots, a selection which we hoped would give us a mix which would grow and store well. We aimed to utilize the baths and the main veg bed and although we didn't have enough space to cover all combinations, our mini (rather unscientific) experiment was planned as:

Bath One: Planted directly with no fertiliser

Bath Two: Planted directly, fertilised with chicken manure pellets 2016

Veg Bed: Sets started in plugs, well rotted horse manure 2016.

March

Using all our varieties of onions, the baths were planted directly on the 9th March. M made me some chicken wire protectors to stop the birds pulling the bulbs out before they got established.

The rest of the bulbs were planted in cells on th 16th March and put in the greenhouse for a few weeks to get a head start before being planted out into the main veg bed.

April

     

By the start of April we could see some little green shoots beginning to emerge from the onions in the baths.

The plugs in the greenhouse had grown well and were ready to go out to the veg bed.

A couple of days later that was all the onions planted out and labelled. The soil had been covered with black plastic to try to warm it a little and for extra protection we put cloches over the onions until the risk of frost had diminished.

July

Bath One

By the start of July the onions were growing well and it was becoming noticeable how the addition of fertiliser was affecting the growth in the baths.

Bath Two

The onions in bath two were looking a lot healthier than those in bath one which had no fertiliser added.

We were also left in no doubt that the best looking of the onions were those in the main veg bed. The start they had in compost cells in the greenhouse had obviously ensured that they already had a root system before going into the ground. The horse manure from last year was likely to have helped to produce these large and healthy plants.

August

       

Bath One                                      Bath Two

At the beginning of August the onions in the baths started to look like they had finished growing and as the leaves were dying off we decided to take advantage of a sunny day and lift them.

       

Bath One                                    Bath Two

It's possible to see there is a slight size difference in the onions, although it also seemed as though we may have planted them too close together for them to reach their optimum growth.

       

Regardless of the poorly looking onions in the baths, the ones in the veg bed were amazing. They were definitely the biggest onions we had ever grown and were showing no signs of slowing down well into August.

Bath One

We were able to compare the onions from the baths first, with Hercules, Centurion and Struon from left to right. As the shallots were a complete disaster it seemed a waste of time to even try to compare them.

Bath Two

I think overall the onions from bath two (with chicken manure pellets) were slightly better than bath one. Given the obvious difference in healthy leaf growth I would have expected there to have been more of a size difference. On the bright side they were a good crop with no apparent insect damage or mold.

September

       

It was some weeks later that we finally managed to lift the last crop of onions from the veg bed. There was still a little green on the shoots but the nights were getting colder and we wanted them out of the ground before the first frosts arrived.

       

We were pretty pleased with our harvest this year.

As we were getting ready for the final comparison we realised we had a problem. Although our crops had not been affected by birds our labels had been pulled out, which basically meant we had no idea which onion was which variety. After a bit of guesswork I lined up what I thought to be Hercules, Centurion and Sturon. By this time I wasn't too bothered as I think the mini experiment had thrown up some interesting lessons.

1. For the best results, onions need to be sown in sets and put in the greenhouse for a few weeks before being planted out.

2. Fertiliser helps a lot be it chicken or horse.

3. More space between the onions in the baths would encourage larger veg.

4. Label carefully and make a note of what is planted where in case the birds nick the labels again.

It wasn't a particularly scientific approach to gardening, we'll refine it again next year and who knows maybe at some point we'll hit on the ideal position and environment for our onions. In the meantime we just need to get them dried so we can store as much as possible.