Onion support tubing

This year I planted about 40 onions (sets) and have been fairly pleased with the result - so far. One problem I have had is in supporting the foilage which has trailed messily over my borders. In the July edition of Kitchen Garden I noticed that in an article they showed Onion with green tubes supporting them. I cant seem to find anything like this for sale. Anyone any ideas? :cnfs:
Many thanks
Teressa

 

Teressa

Are you sure those were onions in the green tubes and not leeks?

Onions normally stand up for themselves pretty well until it's the natural time for their tops to go over and then you want the foliage out of the way so the bulbs can swell and ripen. Supporting onion tops isn't normally an issue.

When your onion tops start to go over, just line them up so they point away from the sun. This will expose the onion bulb to the sun for the maximum period each day. A patch of onions with their tops turned down and neatly lined up, ripening in the sun, is one of the finest sights in the garden!

 

Thanks very much. Showing my 'rookie' status again. Some of the bulbs appear pretty big - about the size of a Large orange while others about small to medium sized apples. Cany you give me an idiots guide to what I do from here please. Don't want to spoil things at the last minute.

Teressa

 

Teressa

You've done very well if you've got some as big as large oranges!

All I can add to JWK's advice is that a few onions may not ripen as well as the others e.g the ones that tried to bolt earlier in the season. These are the ones to eat early because they're not going to last very long. A well ripened onion should be as hard as a canon ball and it will last throughout the winter.