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Sowing onions direct

Connormcgregor1Connormcgregor1 Posts: 2
in Fruit & veg
Hi guys 

Professional Horticulturalist here 

I am starting a garden that is based around sowing everything direct.

I'm stuck with lack of information on sowing onions direct and what I can get away with.

I am in north Cumbria 

Can window onion seed direct in mid March.

I know I could wait till april but inwant to test the water.

Has anybody got experience around doing this?

If so please share.

Thanks in advance 

Posts

  • Blue OnionBlue Onion Posts: 2,995
    I tried sowing onions direct, once, and by fall they were about as big as chives.  I think they are pretty cold hardy.. sow some direct right now and again in two or three weeks, and so on.  Experiment.  
    Utah, USA.
  • nick615nick615 Posts: 1,487
    Connormcgregor1  I feel too many people ask for instructions on what to do, when there are few hard and fast rules in gardening.  That's not a criticism of you.  Anyone can be unsure but the advent of onion SETS is an indicator that it can be possible to short circuit the growing pattern for better results.  Local opinion will be useful, but I'd suggest you could guarantee a crop by planting sets, but experimenting with a small patch of seed sown ones to see what your plot will produce, not forgetting that the sets began life as seed in the first place before having their growth halted artificially.
  • ColinAColinA Posts: 392
    I always start from sets in early March in plug trays in the greenhouse, and get a good crop
  • SkandiSkandi Posts: 1,723
    I've sown silverskin onions direct and they manage to make a crop but since onions are daylight sensitive I think sowing standard onions direct will fail, there's not enough time for them to get to a decent size before the day length triggers bulbing.
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