Know your (autumn) onions
Sow now for early onion crops next year, writes Bob
ACT now and you can save a shed load of money next summer by growing autumn-sown onions. The usual crops of onions, sown or grown from sets planted in spring, do not ripen until the middle of summer, when stored onions from the previous year have already run out.
Indeed, most of us are lucky if our harvested crop keeps into late spring as they tend to sprout even if they’ve not rotted or withered.
So there’s always a gap when we’re forced to buy onions from the shop until our new crop comes in. The shops know this, of course, and charge accordingly. Autumn-sown onions will bridge this gap so are worth much more than our usual crops.
Of course there’s risk – really wet or viciously cold winters can wipe them out – but on the plus side they tend to avoid onion fly attacks as they’ve become large and too tough by the time the fly appears.
The best varieties for autumn sowing have been what were originally Japanese strains and are named after these. However there other varieties such as ‘Buffalo,’ developed from our native strains of onions, too.
What you need are seeds specially bred for autumn sowing – or rather late summer sowing as they have to go in during the next fortnight: ordinary onion seed will not do.
“Sow direct where they will mature”
Ideally you sow direct where they will mature, although you can sow in cells or modules as long as these are planted out as soon as the seed has germinated. Fortunately, even if you miss this window, there are autumn planting sets on the market and these should go in over the next month or so.
One way or another, you can ensure you have new crops when your last stored ones have gone. Now you really do know your onions!