what to do with little onions?

And dont say little cheese n onion sarnies lol

Due to all the rain and me being away from the garden the onion crop got covered in weeds and some sort of mildew that killed the leaf back early, anyway I had a dig around and pulled these out....



I'm thinking about cooking/using the few larger ones, and maybe pickling some of the pickle sized ones, can I use the diddy ones as setts for next year? if so whats the best way to store them? I've got no sacks but I can find an old pillow case instead.

how do you guyz n girlz pickle? and how long before crimbo?

Thanks Plant Potty.

 

Any you save and sow next year will go to seed, so not an option?

To pickle..... wait 'til fully dried out (noticed a bit of greenery in the photo), peel, blanch for 10 seconds, chill and bottle/jar, top up with vinegar.

Bottles/jars must be sterile and any vinegar will do for pickling.

Follow the Edible Gardening Section, an Onion growing thread maybe appearing very shortly, well it will be and we're talking seriously LARGE onions!

 

Quite a few of ours stayed quite small. I've just been using them as and when we need them rather than attempting to store them.

Looking at your pic, I'd say go for a Greek inspired stew (they call it Stifado I think).

Get some diced beef, or whatever meat you like (probably not chicken because it doesn't stand up will to stewing in my opinion). A bottle of cheap but palatable red wine, some robust herbs like rosemary, thyme, sage. Passata or a tin of chopped toms, or tom puree mixed with a bit of water. Peel all your onions and put them in the casserole dish along with the chopped up herbs. Add the diced meat, then the tomato. Pour the wine over it all until its all well covered but not swimming in it. Give it a little stir, then put it in a cool oven for a few hours.

When its ready, having some for your tea, leaving the rest to cool. Then put into into food storage tubs and freeze it.

 

Hi Vince, I'll pickle away, I did some beetroot last year for the first time n folks loved it, so fingers crossed for crimbo onions, the greenery is only a few that were'nt from the same bed, they were in the shade n did'nt die back like most, i'll pull them out n eat or chuck them as the green left is the bolted part of the stem.

I may not say alot but have been reading about your onions for a while now

I was already going to follow the thread, I think you intend to sow on the 26th Dec.

This was only my second year of growing the garden rather than hacking it lol

My onion experence is, year one, 50 setts from poundland, they grew very well and I had 49 nice onions, off the back of year one a planted around 400 setts from poundland, but the crop got mullered in all the rain, and I was out of the office for a long period, some sort of mildew got the leaf and killed them back early, but its not put me off I grew some Bedfordshire champion's last year from seed, my friend moved in up the road and got into gardening off the back of interest in my home grown veg, so I gave him my tray of Bedfordshire's (thinking my setts would be the better option) and he had some cracking results in grow bags with them.

I've just checked and I've got about 60 Bedfordshire Champ seed, and about 100 Rijnsberger seed (mind the Exp date on the later is Oct 2012?)

I'm gonna need you advice in a few areas.

1) Bed prep. (I think I need a soil testing kit)
2) Bed Position. (choice of three spots)
3) Feeding.
4) Distance apart (I'm sure I planted to close and it made weeding a nightmare)
5) Mildew control (I pretty sure it was the same Mildew that got my peas the year before)

So get ready to be spammed lol :D

Plant Potty.

 

Thanks clueless1,Sounds very yummy, my only problem is getting onions past my 9yr old son, tho my lass loves them, tho she does'nt like wine (even tho she is 18 lol) so I may try this in the slow cooker for friends when its my weekend off the kids

 

OK Plant Potty, to answer your questions best I can!

Onions need a free draining site, I'll be prepping mine within the next month, adding loads of manure. (tackles the mildew problem too)

Onions prefer full sun but hate high temperatures, an enigma I know but a bit of shading when it get's too hot is not a bad idea

Feeding! No real need too if you've prepped your bed correctly, a diluted watering of comfrey "tea" if needed will be sufficient.

Distance apart? tricky one, depends on what variety your growing, spring onions, just sow a row, they'll push each other aside. Maincrop, normally at least 4" apart and 1' between rows, I plant my seedlings at much bigger intervals because I grow the larger varieties!

Sowing! I grow all my onions from seed, it's only my Giant Onions I sow on 26th December (2 months later than the real onion guru's), I use a slightly heated propagator in the greenhouse but a south facing windowsill would suffice.

I hope this helps?

Vince

 

By the time its cooked, the wine is just a fruity and slightly sharp background taste, with all the alcohol evaporated off, and the onions become sweet and fruity.

 

You could substitute red wine vinegar and stock/water. Once slow cooked, your son may not even realise he is eating an "onion", you could call them "edible sweet bulbs" or somesuch. (Mr Mum was a notorious 'fussy' eater - boarding on obsessively so - and over time I have fooled re-educated his palette to new experiences )