Although there is no great rush to get these in (they will go in either of the plot d (misc.) beds once cleared of squash/sweetcorn/pumpkin/courgette), I know from experience that if I hang on more that a couple of weeks, the holiday will suddenly be upon me & then it'll be into November before you know it.
I'm already resigned to more expensive onion sets this year - Wilko's price doubled this year to £2 for a bag of 50 - so decided to wander around the local Wyvale garden centre, just up the road from the Hill.I had a thoroughly good mooch - especially round the 'all seeds for 50p a pack' section. Managed to resist all but a packet of tomatillo seeds (totally swayed by a fellow gardener's blog entry where she's made salsa), & a packet of red cabbage sprouting seeds.
You are supposed to sow these like cress and eat them as titchy seedlings, and so there are zillions of seed in the packet, but I can't see why they can't be grown on like proper full size red cabbages - in which case, the size of the seed packet makes this the bargain of the century, especially at 50p.
I found the onion sets - & bought the same varieties as before for £3.40 for 100 sets each of red onions 'electric' & white onions 'senshyu yellow'.I did some sums on spacing to see how much room I need, & it looks like I have just about the right amount (along with the garlic sowing) to fill either bed d1 or d2, leaving the other free for starting root crops in the spring of parsnip & carrots, along with some shallots.
I called at the Hill on the way home in order to see if there were any courgettes ready, & to pick any dry pods from the FRENCH BEAN (early warwick) plants. I picked a few RUNNER BEANS (essex bb & reg-next-plot), FRENCH BEANS (purple giant) & the first SWEETCORN (tender & true).
I ate the sweetcorn there and then - yum yum - & also picked some bolting LETTUCE (little gem) - if there is a reason why you can't pick the leaves of these and eat them in a salad, I'll find out once I've had them for tea tonight.
I find bolted lettuce leaves a touch more bitter than unbolted, but then some people grow some varieties becasue they do have a tough of bitterness. If you like it, eat it, I reckon.
ReplyDeleteI've been told by the old-timers that onions get 'snotty noses' on our site - white rot I assume. Might try some overwintering sets in the home garden though.
Call me insensitive in the gob department, but I couldn't tell the difference - it's a shame it's the last of the lettuce, though - note for next year for better successional sowing!
ReplyDeleteI may have not remembered right, but didn't Snadger say that the overwintering onions were less prone to white rot? You've now got more room to jig things about that you did have, anyway!