Garlic, Onion and Salsify

beetred · Hazel Tree Joined: 08 Jul 2008 Posts: 1 Location: Leixlip

I am about to get winter onions and wonder which is the best variety.
Which garlic is the best for flavour and storage?
When does one harvest slsify. Confused

walltoall · Posted: Wed Sep 09, 2009 6:16 pm Post subject: Winter onions

Everyone has their own idea as to what 's best. But I'm sowing White Lisbon seed tomorrow (about two weeks late) with the hope of a crop of scallions come Easter. As I use them at Easter for salads, I thin them as I go to four inches to harvest July for pickling. If I'm lucky with rain in July some of them are left in the ground til the stalks fall over maybe September and I get bigger onions for winter stews if I'm lucky

forest flame · Rowan Tree Joined: 17 Jun 2008 Posts: 113

hi walltoall
i was wondering about the scallions. i sowed some white lisbon in april and have been feeding off them since. the remaining ones are now like small onions and i wondered if i left them in the ground long enough would i get full sized onions from them

walltoall · Posted: Thu Sep 10, 2009 7:29 am Post subject: white lisbon to onions

My experience (and remember I'm in an entirely different climate) is that that the White Lisbon starts giving scallions about Easter, but they keep swelling as they are thinned out, (or not if I keep them bunched). I harvested loads about half the size of golfballs late July and pickled them.

Because I'm shifting a raised bed I was not able to let them go further. But my experience is that as long as there is 'growing' they will continue to grow. Onions is funny though with air temperature. I think they have a 'growth and bolt' trigger, which can be set off by a couple of nights below 10C. We don't fall to those temperatures here until late October mostly