Whitehall Garden Centres Blog

Welcome to Whitehall Garden Centres Blog. We aim to provide you with hints, tips, information and advice on all aspects of gardening! It is a chance for you to ask us questions and to read our blog posts about what you should be doing in your garden each month.

Tuesday 24 February 2009

Grow Your Own - Onions

Onion Sets -You can raise an onion from a seed or a small bulb called a set. Seeds can be cheaper and have more varieties available and have more flexible sowing times however there is more labour involved in raising onions from seeds and there is more risk of pest and disease attack. Sets are already started and so therefore make it easier to grow, are ready to harvest earlier and are stronger so are less prone to disease and pests. Even if your soil is less than perfect, sets will give you a good crop however they do not have such a wide spectrum of varieties.
Planting
To plant your onions seeds or sets you should never sow them in cold or wet soil, sow thinly about 30cm apart. The ideal time to plant is March, just push the set into the soil so that the tip is just below the surface. Once the crop becomes established you can water them. The end product needs to be dry and hard so little watering is required once they are established unless there are signs of wilting. Make sure you keep the bed weed free to prevent bolting.
Harvesting
When the green stems above the ground collapse your onions are ready to be harvested! Ease the bulbs out of the ground with a garden fork being pushed under the bulb and eased up and then pull it out.

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