Onions galore

It's been a good year for onions. This could be due to the weather we've had, or it could be that I've finally learned how to grow them properly. Probably the former.

Early April and the onion sets are all
neatly laid out. They'll be netted just
until the roots take hold properly.

Back on 6th April I planted out two rows of Giant Stuttgarter onion sets, three rows of Red Barons and a row and a half of Sturon. A few shallots had already been in the ground since just before Christmas. I always buy onion sets as opposed to growing from seed. 350 onion sets cost me just £4, so at just over a penny an onion, why not take the easiest growing option?

The guinea fowl perform the final soil preparation, fine tilling.

I used to grow my onions mixed in with carrots and beetroots in an effort at companion planting, but it wasn't very convenient and never seemed to work tremendously well. I'd always get onions, but nothing special. Last year I devoted a bed to just onions, but I made the mistake of not keeping it weeded. To be precise, I took out selective weeds but decided to let a few nasturtiums grow in amongst the onions. Well before I knew it the nasturtiums had smothered the onions and created a warm, damp microclimate under their canopy. The onions did not like it and many of them started to rot.
So this year not a weed was allowed. The onions thrived, despite the relatively cool and certainly very dry early summer. Some bolted in the dry conditions, about one in six. No matter as Sue will use these ones to make her delicious onion marmalade and chutneys.
The late July deluge seemed to help them swell further. Don next door always folds the tops over on his onions, all the same way like regimented soldiers. I wondered if I should do this, but the interweb says that is an old practice which can encourage rot to enter at the bend. So I left mine. Most of them fold themselves over anyway and once the majority have done this, another week or so for the bulbs to mature and then they need to come out of the ground.

Onions drying in the sun.
The basket contains the bolted ones,
ready to go into marmalade and chutneys.

Last week I decided it was time to uproot them and lay them out on the soil so that the sunshine and warm winds could really get to work on the drying process. They managed to get three days outside but showers forecast for yesterday afternoon found me moving them inside to the polytunnel, where I came up with an ingenious way of hanging them through the slats of my greenhouse staging.

Hopefully the onions will cure well
in the polytunnel.

They won't need long in there before they are ready to be strung or hung up in onion bags. I'll be keeping a close eye on them though, as I have so many that they are a little crowded on the racks. I'm pretty sure that there is enough air circulation in the polytunnel and that the warm air will cure them quickly.

Now here's a link to some proper advice about harvesting onions. It's American, but the principles are sound.

I'm off to find a way of ridding the house of the smell of onions when Sue starts making the marmalade.

An Easter Swallow

Yesterday was Easter Sunday. I haven't turned religious, but it marked the most important day in the calendar. It is not a fixed date but it is one which marks hope and new growth.
For as I was digging out a new pond, I happened to glance up just at the right time to see a swallow disappearing through the window into the stables. Before I continue, I'd like to do something very unusual and apologise for being wrong. It's not the apology which is rare, it's me being wrong! But I did say in a recent blog that the swallows wouldn't be back until later in the month. So the appearance of this single swallow took me somewhat by surprise. But when I checked up, they returned on 8th April last year, so three days earlier this year.
The morning had seen a large flock, maybe 50, of wild swans departing to the north, so it was definitely a case of out with the winter and in with the summer.
Last year six swallows returned together and alerted me to their presence with their excited overhead chattering. This year's bird is a lone bird, but it headed straight into the stable as if it knew where it was going and rested up there for quite some time before heading into the sky over the farm to feed up.

For reasons I won't go into (not to do with Sue), I am making myself scarce in the house at the moment and spending about 12 hours a day outside. I am achieving plenty. I have had some help too. For the guinea fowl have been putting a lot of effort into turning my onion bed into a very fine tilth.

I obliged them by planting all my onion sets today, 350 of them in total.
I have placed them in rows 10" apart (25cm new money). When I have squeezed the spacing in the past, not only do the onions come out smaller but hoeing down the rows is a nightmare, normally resulting in the beheading of at least a couple of onions.
I have spaced the Giant Stuttgarters at 6" apart to give them plenty of space to grow into fine specimens. The Red Barons are closer at 4" apart.

Needless to say, I've netted them all just in case the guinea fowl return!

Welcome to the world, Mr Bean

Water from a tap and water from the sky are two completely different compounds.

 

A few days ago I connected up the hosepipe to fill all the animal drinkers and duck pools - the ducks have new pools so were most excited. quacking happily and nodding their heads up and down.

Happiness is...

While I was waiting for them to fill, I inspected the onion sets. A couple of them were just beginning to emerge, but none of them was exactly in a hurry. I inspected the broad beans too. More precisely, I gazed at the soil in search of something that didn't resemble a marigold seedling. But nowt. This happens with broad beans every year. They wait until I've almost given up hope, then they appear.

Overnight it rained. What a result! For rain water doesn't just keep plants alive, it breathes life into them. So I entered the garden this morning and voila!

The first broad bean seedlings
shoving the soil out of their way
and onions two inches tall!

Generally speaking, broad beans are the first outdoor sown seed to come through in my veg patch. From now on its onward and upward.

 

The shallots put on an amazing spurt of growth too.

That's Shallot (and other Alliums)



Alliums ready for drying and processing.
Red Onions, Shallots and Garlic.



Wednesday 29th August 2012

A bit late for this really, but I've been clinging on to the hope that my onions, shallots and garlic might just somehow manage to plump up a little more. This goes against all the laws of nature, as the leaves have faded long ago.

So, a couple of weeks ago, I unearthed a few of my alliums and presented them to Sue to do something with. She consulted her books of potions and turned a dirty, straggly basket of onions and shallots into this...

Last year, Sue conjured up a most wonderful Red Onion Marmalade which went down very well with all who tried it. The lingering aroma of slowly cooked onions has just about left the house in time for this year's harvest to be preserved.

I also had a good first go at plaiting onions and garlic. Unfortunatley a repeat is unlikely this year as the stems are gone.

Anyway, though not a classic year, there's more to pick and process when the weather turns dry again and there'll be enough to keep us going till the next harvest.

Won't be long now until I need to start thinking about autumn planting some garlic. The shallots traditionally go in on the first day of the year, though I suspect this is not too critical if that New Year's Day hangover is too heavy.



Miss Blyth's Famous Red Onion Marmalade

Saturday 14th January 2012

Now, wherever did I read how to banish the smell of onions?
I buy my onions as sets early in the year. In fact, I've ordered this year's supply just last week. Although slightly more expensive, I find this a much more straightforward way to grow onions, rather than sowing from seed. It also cuts down on disease and bolting. I was pleased with my onion harvest last year, despite everything happening a bit later than ideal. So in late summer I dug up those that I had not picked fresh and set them to dry for a few days. I then plaited them onto strings and suspended them from the beams in the stables. One of the delights of our radical lifestyle change has been learning so many new skills.  Inevitably a couple went soft and needed to be removed. However, if you keep a watchful eye out for this then it won't spread to the others. As it was the first time I'd tried anything like this, I chopped and froze a few bags too, just in case it all went wrong. I find it almost impossible to buy vegetables from the shops when I know I could have grown them myself. I'd rather go without for a while and find that this makes the eventual harvest all the more special. The seasonal element of food has all but gone these days as it is so frivolously flown all around the world to satisfy our every whim. Sadly, familiarity breeds contempt and after all the food miles it is rare that the food gets the appreciation it deserves.
The stored onions won't keep for ever, so Sue spent yesterday processing most of what was left into her delicious red onion marmalade. Recipe courtesy of Hugh F-W. We've left a few hanging to bide us over.

Roots and Shoots

That wasn't supposed to happen!

This first year has been a year of much learning and experimentation. A year of trial and preparation. Many times I had read that root vegetables can be harvested then stored for the winter. One method is by clamping, basically burying them under straw and soil in a kind of garden burial mound which can be plundered when required. I may eventually try this, but not this year. So the alternative was to store them in boxes. But so much conflicting advice on the internet and in books. To wash or not to wash? Dry sand or moist sand? In the end I took some advice and ignored even more. To wash? Yes, but only because the carrot fly had got to some of the carrots and parsnips, so they needed a thorough clean so that only the most perfect of roots could be selected for storage. I plumped to store them in compost, as this seems nice and clean and was what I had to hand. They were dutifully laid out, none touching the other, each layer carefully covered. The boxes came from those left for collection after the Holbeach street market is finished on a Saturday afternoon. They were then dutifully labelled, Beetroots, Carrots, Parsnips and Scorzonera (a lovely veg which defies pronunciation) before being stacked in the utility room. My logic was that they would be easily accessible and relatively safe from the hungry eyes of mice and rats.
There they sat, almost forgotten, then this morning I notice that I've found a very good way to grow fresh, young salad leaves! The young beetroot leaves were deliciously crunchy and zingy.
So, why did this happen? I'm not actually sure. Need to read up even more. As far as I can see, there are three possible reasons.
1: Should have used sand and not compost.
2: Utility room was too warm, plants think it's spring.
3: Too much light.
If I were more scientific or methodical in my ways, I would change one variable at a time to isolate the cause. As it is, I have moved the boxes into the garage, dark and cold. Root vegetables have gone to the top of the menu list and beetroot tops will be appearing in lunchtime sandwiches and as meal accompaniments for a while.