[suziequeue]

Here's our first efforts from the vegetable garden.

Stringing courtesy of this forum :-)

[Sharondp]

Brilliant - lots there! 

[Fleecewife]

Cropped ours yesterday too but they are not yet in strings - yours look very professional    It's a very satisfying time of year, harvesting the years crops and storing them away for winter use - love it 

[pottsie]

Just taken ours out last week to, the reds and gold are great and all tied but the whites not so good although they were planted in exactly the same way? Just ordered my sets of onion and garlic for autumn planting, so hoping to fill three beds soon.

Rob. 

[Greenerlife]

Boo hiss!  I am so jealous!  My onions are about the same size as the sets I planted months ago.  Absolutely useless! 

[Fleecewife]

Hi Greenerlife - that usually happens to me too and when it does I think I won't bother again next year.  This year though I planted sets through black weed suppressing fabric, having first dug in lots of sheep manure and seaweed meal.  Some weeds appeared but I couldn't really see what was happening with the onions themselves as I had cut the holes too small so only the leaves came through.  When I went to lift them I had a lovely surprise as great big onions were hiding under the fabric.  I have grown them through black polythene before and that worked ok but difficult for them to get enough water.  The weed suppressing fabric seems to be the answer for me.  I also planted some bought onion plants, which arrived a bit late and, like yours, they are hardly bigger than sets, so a waste of money - that was through the fabric too, so it's not a miracle.  Better luck next year  Now with the apple windfalls and some of the onions I'm going to make chutney 

[faith0504]

hi i have dug up my onions this week first time i have ever grown anything this year, they are not huge things but they look good and smell lovely, yum yum

[Cinderhills]

The leaves on my onions have fallen to the ground.  Do I have to wait until they go brown or do I harvest now?  Same with garlic.

[Cinderhills]

Forgot to say Susiequeue, your onions look fabulous!

[scotelf]

Wow, onions look great! Well done.

[Mo]

Well done! Good stringing too 

[pottsie]

I was wondering have you washed of the soil on your onions before hanging they look really clean? Do you also keep them in doors all the time as i kept last years hung in a stable after drying and quite a few went of. With regards to the onion sets not growing have you put them in good soil, i havn't had any bother with them growing even with weeds around but they always follow last years potatoes so the beds are well manured and settled. Maybe beginners luck?

Rob. 

[Fleecewife]

The leaves on my onions have fallen to the ground.  Do I have to wait until they go brown or do I harvest now?  Same with garlic.

Once the leaves on onions have fallen over, and those on garlic have started to go yellow, you can either harvest them (if rain threatens) or lift them a bit with a fork to loosen the roots then leave them for a week longer to dry in the sun before lifting.  I lift mine without loosening as it is bound to rain here.  I then lay them out on mesh in the polytunnel until the outer skins are dry and loose and the leaves are brown and totally dry.  I rub these off, and cut the shrivelled roots short before storing them.  Any onions with thick necks will not store so use them up first, and keep checking those in store haven't got mould on - some will last right through until spring.  Garlic usually stores very well, but check every now and then that the cloves are still firm.  I grew shallots too and they are ready sooner than onions so should be lifted once the leaves start to shrivel - just when depends on where you live.

[Cinderhills]

Thanks Fleecewife.  As usual you are a star. 

[suziequeue]

The onions were dried in the wood shed on a slatted wood stand for about two weeks and then I trimmed the roots and brushed off the dirt with a soft nail brush.

I tried to leave as much of the skins on but took a little off if it was really crappy.

We made a lovely pasta sauce with first one off the string yesterday

I like the idea of planting sets in autumn under weed suppressing fabric

Susanna