Onions

With having a smallish garden is it possible to grow them in pots and i have had kelsae /mammoth mentioned to me and if it is possible how do you grow these large onions.

Cheers

 

Hi Shimsham,

Don't see why not, just make sure the soil is nice & firm.

I'm going to try the kelsae onions this coming season.

 

Hi Shimsham, yes, you can grow onions in containers.
I don't know how you grow the giant onions but before I had a proper kitchen garden I grew red onions in a container and they did just great.
I grew them in one of those plastic crates the supermarket get their bread deliveries in, lined it with membrane and filled it with compost. Onions don't need any great depth of soil and they did well. Garlic did well grown the same way. So did many other vegetables - pak choi, lettuce, carrots, purple top milan turnips, spring onions, spinach - oh I forget.
Peas and beans do well in deeper pots.
There's so much you can grow in containers if you have no kitchen garden.

 

Alice. Thats a great idea with the bread basket.

Colin

 

.
No problem.
Some exibition people grow theirs in (borders) in poly tunnel in not very deep soil.

So good luck!

 

Shinsham, if you like the bread basket idea, have a look around supermarket car parks and surrounding areas. You'll find them dumped about the place. That's where I got mine.

 

Thanks all for you valuable comments.

Cheers

 

For the past few years due to white rot in the garden soil I've grown onions in a big polystyrene fish box filled with a mixture of worm compost and recyled potting compost. I can't grow as many as I used to do, but the ones I grow end up just about the same size as they did when I grew them in the ground.

 

Thanks Dave.

 

Growing Kelsaes.

Your final growing bed should already be part prepared, ie, manure dug into the top few inches of the bed and exposed to the winter elements.

I only grow from seed and I will be sowing my seed in a electric propogator set to 12oC on 26th December, I use no artificial light hence I won't be growing any "world record" specimens.

I'm using a 75/25 % mix of soil based seed compost / Vermiculite, I sow thinly in open seed trays, and cover with a 50/50 compost/vermiculite (the lighter covering helps the seedlings emerge), I use just enough to cover the seed.

Keep the compost moist but not saturated, once the seedlings have emerged increase ventilation.

Forget the crook stage! transplant the seedlings to 60 cell seed inserts when 2 true leaves have formed, at the 5 leaf stage, transplant into 3" pots, gently harden off and plant out in May after no risk of frost!

Most important, make sure you haven't any "gardening" dogs!!!!!!! :'( (like what I have).

Kelsaes need lots of root room as do mammoths, so make sure you have lots of large pots!

Hope this helps and god help you if you grow any bigger than me LOL :(

PS, Kelsaes taste great with a nice steak but the longest I've been able to keep them for was about 4-5 months, you may want to grow some Bedford Champions to last a few months longer?

 

Vince,Thats great info think i will go with that,the only problem with part of it i do have a Jack Russell dog and yes he does like to cock his leg up anything thats available.

Cheers Colin

 

Would a 6ins / 150mm deep raised bed be suitable for onions.

Cheers

 

Vince, great info on growing from seed, I'm going to try a few as I have only ever grown from sets before.

You mention that you sow seeds on the 26th December, I've heard that very same date quoted by the welsh allotment guy from the Rhonda, on Radion2 just this last week. Is this a traditional sowing day for onions?

Many thanks.

Steve...

 

For the last two years my best onions have grown in large pots as I also do not have a lot of room.

 

Hi Steve,
You mean Terry Walton. Its probably more " I have to go down the potting shed Dear " rather than have to spend another minute cooped up with you and your dreadfull relatives that you invite for Christmas every year even though I hate them, they hate me and they only buy me socks & jumpers because they know i'm allergic to wool.:wink::hehe: