Watching the onions growing, is like watching the Grand National horserace

They say a picture says a thousand words, for this we have some photographs with a few words underneath

A bargain buy is what started it all, but as we put them in the ground we already had one faller, one set was a dud we were left with 49

After a few trips to the allotments it seemed the onion sets were being moved around, most likely reason is that as the onions send up shoots birds confuse them for worms and come down for them, a bit a surprise i would suggest if they try to chomp on them. At this stage down to 45

We have since uncovered the onions as you can see from the photographs below and they have had a little TLC with grit and compost, but not everyone of them has germinated it seems, we currently have 37 still in the running.

Day 33 - Then there will be light, muck, onions, leaf mould and an improvised bird feeder

I am sure I have wrote this before, but the very jobs you plan to go and do are not always the ones you end up doing or if you do get them done, other jobs crop up. Today was one of those days, on going to up to our allotment, we passed a fresh delivery of leaves then on the next corner a fresh delivery of horse muck.

So three trips for the horse muck filled in the gaps where it was looking a little bare from our last muck spreading. Then two trips for the leaves, one of which I took the dalek, and being the clever so and so I am got it filled to the brim, but left the small point of how to turn it the right way from barrow to position as it has no bottom. As always our lass put us right. sending me back off with the black bin, whilst sorting the Dalek, which is king of floating at the moment.

We had a brew, then actually got on with the jobs we had gone to do. First job to bring light to the shed, the bright sunny winters day was not lost on me for the irony, but the dark dreary days will be the times when we will get the benefit. Our lass sourced the light from Wickes, our lass is good at finding the bargain buy. 

Second job, to let the onions breathe. Well, it was to stop them from getting to wet from the netting as it seemed to be holding the rain water above them and sometimes on them. I removed the netting as the shoots are showing long enough to not make the birds think they are worms. I also did a mix of compost and grit to put around the onions. I did this after watching videos of where I should have done a hole with dibber or finger but put them on top, A layer of the mixture should help nourish and weed suppress.

Last job was a do it yourself birdfeeder, we have the hanging feeders but this was birds who literally like their meal on a plate or at least a flat surface. It is now positioned in front of the wildlife camera so we will see if it attracts the attention of the birds and meets with their approval.

And then there was light

The bed is finally covered ready for next years potatoes

Bird feeder, pond, what more would the wildlife like?

Onion shoots, now free to breathe and little nourishment.

Day 29 - being prepared, preparing to be prepared and dig

The sun was out, which this time of year means it was chilly, but you can cope with chilly for a few rays of sunshine and the clear blue skies.

We await some more raspberry canes, so our lass has started the preparations, digging over, and putting down some wood so we can pick our crop hopefully. Also a running repair on next doors fence with the use of a slab.

Also a little weeding now that the strawberries have become established

Before

After

Hopefully this time the planner won't be spoilt by the damp.

The onions are coming on nicely

Will the above experiment come to anything, more shoots are coming through, are they tomatoes? Will they last until next year? Time will tell.

The onions start to settle in

 A lot of things will be a first for us, growing onions being one of them. From initially planting them, I had noticed each time when we came to the allotment that a onion bulb or two was being moved around, having read up and seen clips on the television it seems the birds get confused when the onions start to sprout, thinking they are worms and come down for them. To help stop this we are using netting to put off the birds and give the onions a fair chance of survival. The first shoots are starting to come through, so hopefully they will be settled before winter.

Something is happening

More signs of life

Protection of the onions in place until they get well established.

Day 26 - We only went to plant a rose, just look at what we did.

That is the beauty it seems of going to the allotment, you go with one job in mind, and end up doing something completely different. This morning our lass finally received through the post her bare root shrub rose bush. So the plan, was to to plant the rose bush and some bulbs. We forgot the bulbs, we did take some compost, so our lass started on the hole for the rose bush and I as usual got distracted by something else (onions-see next blog post)

Whilst doing the rose bush, which needed a soak before planting our lass moved onto having a go at the muddle puddle we have had. Next thing you know, we are laying a path. So jobs done, rose planted, new-new path laid, onions covered. Happy day all round.

They do say when digging a hole for a rose bush to make sure it is free of obstructions, this was the boulder found at the bottom of the hole.

Rose bush in place

Compost ready for the bulbs we forgot, and much to our lasses amusement I swept the fake grass.

The new new path

New path a differing angle

Onions covered, to stop the birds getting confused

Day 22 Part 2 - Getting to know your onions.

Discussion had been, not going to grow onions, by the time you grow them they cost more than if you just bought some down the shop, to be frank (and we have a lot of carpet so we can be) everything is cheaper in the shops, you really have to factor in the exercise and enjoyment of seeing what you have planted grow. So whilst we were out shopping yesterday we saw a bag of onion bulbs for less than 4p each, so our lass said "Go on if you want" to which I replied "I had thought of doing them, and we do eat them"

So we now have Onion sets, If you read the advice you are supposed to plan a few months in advance, we sometimes only plan as we walk to where we are going, luckily we had a bed which had been covered in horse manure a month ago, also, as i thought it was space I wanted to add more, but our lass stopped us, which was just as well.

Onions need 4 to 6 weeks autumn warmth, not harsh winter, so they can set roots into the soil, so even though our packaging said you could plant up to December, in all honesty I think we have planted just about as late as you can, so they will be ready for any frosts when they go dormant. They are expected to be ready for June/July.

They need well drained soil, but also need lots of moisture, quite a contradiction. So we have dug over the manure, and put some grit on top as you will see in the photographs, we have planted two rows either side, with a row in the middle free for a companion plant, we did think carrots but onions and carrots do not get on, so it is likely to be leeks or beetroot. 

Lets see what happens.

Here is hoping we can grow something like it looks like on the packet

The bed to begin with

Dug and raked, but not as good as our lass would have done

Applying the grit

Spot the onion, all ready for next year