We had a run out and stopped in The Range and looked for Japanese onion sets for sale.
I opened a packet of the onion sets out on to the coffee table and I counted 66 onions sets. Don't I have an exciting life?
We have 3 packets so we should have at least 189 onions next year. My new hobby is counting onions. It's got to be better than knitting?😀
I also bought a packet of Spinach seeds for ninety nine Cents. I will sow these in a raised bed in the polytunnel. If we get a glut of it I will feed some to the livestock. They love organic vegetables like we do.
Japanese or winter onions originate in Japan and hard winters do not trouble the onions. Its great to see your Japs poking their green stalks through the snow and you know they will come to no harm.
We have been growing Japanese onions over thirty years and they are ready to harvest in June. We often pick them when they are young and before our summer spring planted onions are ready.
If you have a spare veg bed I would definitely recommend you grow some Japanese onions. Garlic bulbs can also be planted now:
A plastic bath raised bed planted with Japanese onion sets. I planted 3 raised beds in total.
I have two more bags to plant.
If you have never grown Japanese winter onions before. I would definitely recommend you buy some and plant them this Autumn.
We always used to grow them at the smallholding and then we kept getting problems with the later spring sown maincrop - rot and mildew- and someone said it could be a cross over thing, so we stopped planting Japanese for a year or two which seemed to solve the problem - or it might have just been the weather!
ReplyDeleteThanks for that Sue. We grow lots of onions and leeks. I don't like having empty beds and like to see something growing in them. I have planted mine six inches apart to see if we get bigger onions. I feed them well rotted fym, seaweed, wood ash and give them a good watering with the well water in the hosepipe sprinkler. I am sure there are nutrients in the well water. We had a bumper crop of tomatoes this year in the polytunnel.
ReplyDeleteI go for Chard more than Spinach..I'm bringing on some in pots
ReplyDeleteGood idea GZ. I am going shopping for broad beans seeds later for Autumn planting.
ReplyDeleteNot heard of those onions, as mine did not do well last year, I think I will pop to our Range and get a pack, as for onions being better than knitting at this time of year the knitting wins, crafting is great on dull wet days.
ReplyDeleteYes they are winter onions that you plant in Autumn Marlene. The nights are really drawing in now. Especially where we live with no street lights. I will be watching lots of A Place In The Sun and Antiques Roadtrip while someone knits merrily.
DeleteCrafting or bookworm here
DeleteDrinking cans of beer are another pastime of mine.
DeleteGiven what the Japs did to many of our lads in WWII, there's no way I'll be growing them!
ReplyDeleteThe Nolans were big in Japan YP. Not bad fo an Irish Lancashire band from Blackpool. Have you never owned a Toyota? They last for ever.
ReplyDeleteNo - I have never owned a Toyota! They shoved sharpened bamboo under our lads' fingernails so how could I ever live with myself if I drove a Japanese car?
DeleteMy Japanese onions come from the Netherlands and I bought them in The Range which is an English company.
DeleteWhy don't they call them Dutch onions then?
DeleteGood point. Japanese onions are traditionally Winter onions that you plant in Autumn.
DeleteJapanese onions. Heavens, we are lucky if we can find Greek ones. Onion bulbs are cheap. Must remember to get half a kilo when I go for my leeks.
ReplyDeleteThey originate in Japan and you plant them now. I think ours come from Holland where most bulbs come from.
ReplyDeleteI haven't grown them, but I wouldn't have enough space to grow all that you do. Our soil is only about 9-12 inches deep at most.
ReplyDeleteRaised beds or what about an allotment Tasker? I ended up planting 7 beds of them today. We had our homegrown and homemade potato and leek super for dinner today. We seem to eat Alliums every day.
ReplyDeleteEnvious - i guess i won't be considering onions for my kiwi plot until next May
ReplyDeleteI am looking forward to following your blog when you move to New Zealand. It will be fascinating following your growing season and what you grow?
ReplyDelete