Saturday 19 September 2015

It's Time

Now's the right time to get some spring onions underway ready for next year. I like my spring onions to bulb up but as they're such a slow growing crop, it's useful to get them started early and overwinter them to give them a little extra growing time.

I always grow White Lisbon these days. I've tried other varieties but none do as well as this tried and trusted favourite so I stick with it.


I've got a few of these wooden troughs, I've had them years and they're just the thing for growing spring onions in, not too deep but deep enough. I'm reusing compost which some of my container grown potatoes were grown in, I just mix a few chicken manure pellets in with it as the nutrients will have been used up by the potatoes, this adds some nutrients back to the compost ready for the next crop.


Growing small quantities in containers means that it isn't such hard work to sow the seeds individually to prevent having to thin the plants out as they grow. As you can see, I make individual small holes in the compost to drop the seed in to.


Spring onion seeds are a decent size so it's not too tricky to sow them individually. Obviously, if I were sowing a large patch of them at the allotment I wouldn't sow them in this way, it would be far too time consuming.


All that's left to do now is to give them a good water and leave them to do their thing. This photo was taken this morning, as you can see in the background, my tomatoes are still delivering.


It will take a couple of weeks for the spring onions to germinate but once they do, they'll have a good few weeks to put on some growth before the colder weather arrives. I leave the trough outdoors until about November and then I move it in to the greenhouse. There isn't usually any growth over winter but they've already got a good start when the weather starts to warm up again and they grow away quite quickly then. I do still sow more at the beginning of the new season but they're never as good as the ones I sow in autumn.

30 comments:

  1. I suppose the Spring Onions wouldn't be likely to survive without protection of some sort? I see there is a variety called "White Lisbon Winter Hardy", but I wonder exactly HOW hardy they are....

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    1. I'm always dubious about varieties of veg claiming to be Winter Hardy, like you say, what does that mean exactly? Does it mean they'd survive given some protection or would they survive without protection at -15 degrees? I think I'd give autumn sown spring onions a go even without a greenhouse. A sheltered corner and a bit of fleece can go a long way to giving seedlings a bit of protection and that's all some things need.

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  2. I love spring onions ...

    Like all your photo's here Jo, especially the one with Archie sitting by ... I've just given him a pat - virtually speaking of course!

    All the best Jan

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    1. I love spring onions too. I always try to grow some decent specimens as they're my dad's favourite and he's unable to grow his own since they moved to a place without a garden. Archie says Thank you for the pat, he always welcomes attention.

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  3. I think I will try some spring onions in pots, when I have time I must read through your blog to pick up some more growing tips.

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    1. I've discovered that I grow my best spring onions by sowing them in autumn. They do seem to need a good, long growing season and this gets them off to a good start.

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  4. I usually don't bother but I like the way you grow them so may try some in a container. Flighty xx

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    1. It's very rare I've been let by down them grown in this way, and they're a lovely ingredient for a salad, though I do love them in a cheese and onion sandwich too.

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  5. That's a great idea, I was just thinking yesterday I ought to grow some spring onions next year. I shall have a look and see if I have some seeds. Sure I do. Thanks for the tips. CJ xx

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    1. It certainly makes sense to get things which take a long time to mature going in autumn if you can. Seeds can take a long time to germinate if we have a cold spring, as we did this year, so it's good to have things already on the go.

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  6. We might give this a go Jo, we normally plant shallots and use them instead of spring onions, but it's worth giving this a go I think.

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    1. I hope it works for you if you do give it a go. I've had very few problems growing spring onions in this way.

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  7. We'll have to try your method as we don't seem to have any luck with spring onions. At one time we sold them on the allotment and left them there all winter and they grew well.

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    1. I definitely think the secret is to give them a good, long time to grow. They can look like pathetic specimens early on but then come in to their own later on.

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    1. It's the way I've found to work best, especially if you like your spring onions bulbed up a bit like I do.

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  9. Nothing like getting a headstart Jo. Archie looks as if he is having fun supervising.

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    1. My thoughts exactly. Archie loves to sit with us when we're busy, he watches what we're doing very carefully.

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  10. Good tips, I shall have to get mine going too as I've never had much success with them before.

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    1. I definitely think the secret to spring onions is a long growing season. Sowing in autumn means we're one step ahead of the game.

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  11. I'm going to copy you & try mine early. I've just started to pick from sowings earlier on this year x

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    1. I hope it works for you. I find my spring onions never really start to bulb from sowings made the same year but I get some good specimens from the ones started in autumn.

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  12. Good idea to sow them early. We haven't grown spring onions for a couple of years now.

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    1. I enjoy having a good crop of spring onions as I love to share them with my dad. They're one of his favourites but he doesn't have a garden to grow his own any more so I do like to share mine with him.

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  13. Love spring onions....like the thought of growing them in small containers.

    Is Archie supervising or getting ready for a snooze :))

    Your tomatoes look wonderful.

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    1. Spring onions seem to do well for me in containers. Archie won't leave our side, he's got to have his snout in whatever we're doing. I've had a great year with my tomatoes, I'm very pleased with them, they're still coming.

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  14. You can't beat spring onions and it's a good time to sow them as you say....I've just been looking at your tomato harvest in your previous post, wow! It has been an incredibly good year for you! That's a great return!xxx

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    1. I'm thrilled to bits with my tomatoes this year, they've been plentiful and very, very tasty.

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  15. I really enjoy planting things in the fall that then do their own thing come spring when it's so busy. I don't think normal spring onions would survive our climate, but I'm trying perennial bunching onions. But you know, I did leave a small storage onion in the ground last year unintentionally & it made it to spring, so maybe they would be ok. I should try it at some point, just to see.

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    1. I think being ahead of the game is a good thing. It's surprising sometimes what survives the winter weather, I think some things do better than we give them credit for. You could give a few spring onions a go, you've got nothing to lose really if they don't make it.

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