Chris and Steve's Weblog - City Chickens » onions

Ready for Season 2011

Chris — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 14:38:06 +0000

We have started to think about the new season. I know it is too early yet to sow seeds and I am determined to be patient.

First thing on the agenda is to get the seed potatoes and start them chitting in egg boxes on the window ledge. I am sticking to earlies only again this year and planting them all in bags. My favourites from last season were Vivaldi, grown from potatoes bought from Sainsburys and Sharps Express, bought as seed potatoes from Focus. I am just growing those again this season.

The second task is to get the parsnip seeds in in February if we have a fine dry day.

I intend to have another go at onions from seed as I have good seed left. Last years were not too good and got neck rot and went soggy before we could harvest them. I am not sure what I did wrong but will have another go. I have Onion Ishikura, Ailsa Craig and a Sweet Spanish Onion. My instructions say sow very thinly in February under cloches or March to April out in the open. Ishikuri are salad onions and are meant to be harvested as spring onions, when they are about six inches high and pencil thick. Ailsa Craig and the Spanish Onion are mild cooking onions which stay in the ground longer and are harvested when they have formed a large bulb. I have just read that the Ailsa Craig are known as Winter Onions and so should have been sown in the winter ready to grow on and harvest the following Autumn.

Because of Christmas, very bad weather and flu I haven’t been to the allotments for a few weeks so I am looking forward to my first visit of the year. I am sure there will be lots of tidying up to do but hopefully a few nice surprises too.

Happy Birthday Sean. 40 today!!!!!!!!!

Silverskin Onion De Barletta For Pickling

Chris — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 09:29:50 +0000

I have sown a tray of the sivlerskin onion De Barletta with the intention of using them as Spring Onions. I intend to put a row of these direct into a bed at the allotment to grow on for pickling.

This small pure white silver skinned onion grows quickly for early cropping. Its mild flavour and firm texture makes it ideal for the table orÂ when marble sized to pickle for crisp cocktail onions.

Overwintering Onion Sets

Chris — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 12:11:24 +0000

Rob has next week off work and we have so much to do. We have to plant the overwintering onion sets. Onion Troy, a brown onion from Marshalls, Onion Red Cross also from Marshalls, Onion Snowball and Electric Red both from Focus. It’s back breaking work putting them in and there are a lot of them.

The other big job is to make a start on the new fruit cage. I doubt that it will get finished next week however. We dismantled the old one and plan to make the new one half as big again. We also have to finish the first tunnel as the door end is still not permanent.

The last of the pumpkins should be ready to cut. Matthew and Libbie have already had the two biggest ones ready for Halloween.

The last time we visited the plots the Butternut Squash Avalon was still producing fruit and although the frost had taken a few leaves they still looked rampant. They have been one of our successes this year.

The rest of the work will be digging beds and tidying up. There is a skip on site at this time of the year and also a bonfire so we can get rid of any clutter.