Onion Conundrums!

This Eelworm problem really has exercised the ol’ grey matter for the last few days – the problem in essence is that although the Eelworm will naturally die off if you don’t grow the onion family (or a host of related plants), it will take a couple of years, & in that time you are only ‘safe’ in growing brassicas & lettuce.

I’ve taken advice from the good folks on the Grapevine, & have done a bit of research, & we appear to have a number of options:

Sterilise soil – similar to what they did in Vietnam.
Pros: will definitely cure Eelworm infestation
Cons: will also 'cure' all the ‘goodies’ - hardly a ‘green’ option; most chemicals which will do the job have been banned

Organic cure – sow a variety of marigold (tagetes minuta) which discourages Eelworm
Pros: can sow around existing planting plan; ‘green’ solution
Cons: will only ‘discourage’ not ‘cure’; plants are a bit big and not too pretty

Hard work cure – building raised beds, line with cardboard, import ‘clean’ soil
Pros: can grow onions and related in the raised beds, and brassicas & lettuce in the rest; this will look very good – we aspire to raised beds
Cons: expensive; lots of effort

Conscientious cure - only grow brassicas and lettuce in the plot for two years
Pros: this will get rid of the eelworm, & in an organic way
Cons: there are only so many cabbages you can eat

Lazy cure – just carry on & hope that this is just a bad year for Eelworm
Pros: It might be better next year; can minimise problem by sowing autumn onions & spring onions can be grown in pots at home
Cons: It might be worse next year

So those are the choices – having been to the Hill tonight with a view to taking a photo of the afflicted onions, they didn’t actually look too bad, & if the only real down side of having the Eelworm is that the onions don’t keep……well, I don’t know. We don’t have to decide anything just yet, & I’d still like to talk to Reg-next-plot – there is every possibility that I’m making a bit of a fuss about nothing very much!

I though about all of this as I picked my tea – POTATO (rocket), TURNIP (snowball) & BROAD BEANS (aguadulce) along with some LETTUCE (mixed), RADISH (cherrybelle) & BEETROOT (woden f1) leaves which I’ll have in a salad tomorrow. I also couldn’t resist pulling up the first GARLIC plant – rather a small bulb, & without peeling it, I don’t know if it has split into cloves properly – but it looks fantastc - cheered me up no end!