Onion help please

[Puddleduck]

My plot is currently sprouting onions that I planted last year but didn't grow. To be honest I couldn't even find the sets when I came to harvest them last year so I figured they'd been eaten. Now they're growing all over the place, except in the part I've earmarked for onions this year. So my question is this: Can I move the already sprouting onions into another part of the plot? Or will they die a thousand deaths? Answers on a postcard please.....

[battybird]

Sounds like you had the same gremlins as us (or maybe it was pigeons, mice...or other small creatures!) Our onion sets ended up scattered all over the plot and we harvested many which were sort of in the area where they were palnted but we have several shooting now by the raspberries and near the rhubarb! Luckily ours can stay where they are, not sure if they would move okay, but guess its worth a try as they are a "bonus" this year.

[Odsox]

If I were a betting man I would say that those onions will flower this spring and be useless, except for the tops chopped up in potato salad.
But I'm not a betting man, so I won't mention it.

[Puddleduck]

Thanks guys, think I'll try to shift them in with this years sets, if they die then such is life, if they live, wooo, onions all round!!!

[okra]

Use them in salads and don't take the risk of them dieing

[PossibleBoris]

As a new starter to growing last year, we put onion seeds in the ground. They shot up quickly enough, but the bulbs were tiny after the plot was ready to be cleared.

I left them in situ over winter, and in spring moved them into another section of the garden for a few weeks. After that I moved them into a pot and they're still growing. Whether or not we'll have onions this summer is another matter, but they appear unaffected by movement - as long as you're careful with the roots.

This year I bought onion sets in the hope I can have some to eat in the same year as planting!

[sarahturner]

I'd harvest them and use them in salads as they may bolt (go to flower). Onion sets are usually heat treated to prevent them bolting but when I try to grow them from sets they bolt so I've grown from seeds for the last 2 years. The seeds need to be sown really early the tradtional day is christmas day (cos there isn't enough to do!!) and then kept moist and they'll swell like good'uns, last year my biggest one was nearly 2lb!!

[gregorach]

Yeah, it's the cold of the winter that triggers onions to set seed in the next season. One approach I've heard recommended for growing onions from seed is to grow your own sets - sow them from seed in the first year, lift and dry them when they reach marble size, keep them somewhere warm and dry over the winter, and then plant them again next spring. Haven't tried it myself though.

[grahamhobbs]

I'd harvest them and use them in salads as they may bolt (go to flower). Onion sets are usually heat treated to prevent them bolting but when I try to grow them from sets they bolt so I've grown from seeds for the last 2 years. The seeds need to be sown really early the tradtional day is christmas day (cos there isn't enough to do!!) and then kept moist and they'll swell like good'uns, last year my biggest one was nearly 2lb!!

Not all sets are heat treated, so it may have been the ones that bolted may not have been. Bolting could be due to planting your sets out too early (they get cold and think that's winter, so go into their biennial flowing mode). I find sowing onions around the end of January quite sufficient, the main thing i find is to get them into a cold frame as soon as they come up, with the warmth indoors (and the low light levels) they can easily become too leggy and weak. Currently mine are bigger than those grown from sets. The advantage of growing from seed, other than being cheaper, is that you can get a wider choice of varieties.