in preperation for large onions'
By funkyfuchsia
9 comments
Prepairing the greenhouse border for the large Onions, last weekend i went down to my local beach and collected some seaweed from the foreshore, a pleasant enough job for this time of the year,
I have never tried this before, but believe that the high levels of essential trace elements contained in this will give a boost to the growth rate,
plus the seeweed contains natural antibiotics to protect against certain fungi infections.. I will start the Onions off on Xmas day as is the tradition among Onion growers’
then after germination they will recieve 24hrs of light under growlamps for about 6wks, then the lights will be reduced to 12hrs per day for 3 wks, by which time they will be ready to go into the prepaired bed in the greenhouse in March,
I am also toying with the idea of putting under soil heating cables in, i have got a spare set somewhere if i can find them,
If you are growing giant onions for next year i would be pleased to hear from you and your efforts. Dave
17 Oct, 2008
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thanks i hope i will have some good uns to show you, i'm going for it next year to beat my own record,
17 Oct, 2008
Well, whatever turns you on, FF, I wish you luck! I prefer Fuchsias to onions, myself! BTW, do you eat the onions???? - or just grow them for show?
17 Oct, 2008
hi yeh of course i eat them they are mild and delicious,
my local pub uses them and cant get enough, also i look after 30 elderly tenants who also enjoy them,
they make great Onion rings in batter, Still i'm glad you share my interest in Fuchsias,
17 Oct, 2008
I only asked because I went to the Amateur Gardening Show again this year and the Giant Vegetable Competition gets judged there. The people who grow them don't eat them, they just grow them bigger and bigger each year to compete with each other! The veggies must be tasteless, I should think! I'm glad yours aren't like those, and what you do with them is great! :-)
17 Oct, 2008
, thanks for your interst, the competition is great, then there is the annual challenge of trying to beat your own record,the anticipation aways keeps me in suspenders, lol
18 Oct, 2008
plenty seaweed here, will be collecting a couple of trailer loads during the winter (on mild days). do you compost it befor you use it, or just dig it in. i hose mine down to get rid of the salt then compost it,but my nieghbour just chops it up and digs it in.
18 Oct, 2008
it's not a bad idia to rinse off some of the salt, but a did'nt do that myself ,just chopped it up and dug it in.
another way is to dry it out and then crumble it, it loses none of its trace elements,
18 Oct, 2008
As a very amateur gardener I have just started growing my own onions and will certainly be visiting the nearest coast to collect seaweed. Thank you for that.
One problem that I had last year was that they didn't store too well and many of them were soft and inedible after a few weeks.
Mary Bailey
Wickford, Essex, U.K.
<A href="http://marysenglishgarden.blogspot.com/">English Garden</A>
28 Apr, 2010
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I won't be growing giant onions, just ordinary ones, but I once had an uncle who lived by the sea and he always collected seaweed to put in his garden.
I've heard it's particularly good for potatoes.
Good luck with your onions. I hope you show us some photos of them next year.
17 Oct, 2008