Glut the third - Onions

 

Glut Cook Three – Onions.

You need to know your onions to get that successful succession going. I keep aiming to end up with plump wonderful onions in the shed- suspended and dry. They are easy to store and keep. In addition I’ve got my food waste spring onions and the everlasting onion bed.  All you need is a bed or two and they just keep growing and going – until the winter. That’s when my onions are not so good, I do overwinter onions thanks to a greenhouse (or windowsill). I have a few other food waste tricks to keep the glut going but there is never enough – but they do help keep the need to buy a little lower.

Then there is a catch as the winter cold, very cold, and more than freezing temperatures we seem to get in our little frost hollow. The result was as my optimistic onion crop started developing it failed. Also my trials and tribulations with trying to establish tree onions has led to squelchy failures. Other people seem to have great success mine simply started to grow, looked like the little bulbils were forming and then the falling stems just failed to root. Lesson learned – try again next year and try not to be so ambitious. I’m going for seedlings in the greenhouse! Any that are sprouting in the garden will need a nice duvet like covering so I’m saving bubble wrap and other packaging for a nice layer of insulation for next years next cloches. They are going to have an insulating layer to cover them.

In the meantime we have our spring onions, everlasting onions, red onions, shallots and brown onions to use in ever depleting numbers through November and early December. There is not such a glut in the ‘off’ season, but we are finding new ways to keep things going as we really get to know our onions.

 

Get the glut going.

• You can over winter these but make sure you have one suited to it. Also at the slightest hint of a cold weather warning, even the merest whisper thinks of some sort of protection. We all know how important protection can be.
• Seeds I tend to grow from are targeted through the year. A few at a time in a small pot. As always, we keep a plot to one side where one to three are left for seed – and give them time to grow and flower. Remember you need to grow the bulbs in the first year. The seed comes in the second. Also wait for the seed – you see them emerging slowly. Three seems to give some insurance (if you remember your protection) or an early crop of seeds as well as onions.
• If you have space, I’m growing onions to sets in the green house for overwintering – so I can give some protection from frosts and surprisingly drought. Nothing likes being too wet or too cold.
• Shallots from seed work really well and we get loads, which means I lift and dry some ready for planting next year. Banana shallots were a great choice especially as they get little pricey. The normal shallots grew in their usual clumps – some used to cook, an excess can be pickled, or I kept some dry and in a torpor temperature ready to plant next year. An old neighbour of ours used to do this year in and year out. His clumps of shallots were something to be envied.
• We try not to waste spring onions if we have to buy them, we create a cut and come again in a pot. The stems are chopped about 1.5 cm above the root to get them started. Then in pots we just keep cutting and waiting for them to come again. They keep coming but be careful – they get woody through the year. This is not an everlasting onion, but it does keep going. The wood y ones can be great in a soup. Also don’t let the stalks grow to flower. They are hybrids and seed may not work well. Also all the effort goes to seed rather than leaf.
• Try and get different onions growing at different times of the year. I tend to have Perpetual Onions going through most of the year. I let some go to seed -for collection and dropping onto the well mulched soil.
• Don’t forget onions like water and I’ve found the ash from the BBQ (charcoal one) seems to suit them as well.
•  Also just keep planting a pot of seed every time the first ones have germinated and started to grow. You can then get a succession going through the year, varying varieties as you go.

Getting to the Crop

The crop depends on the type but there are some I like:

• Perpetual onions need to go to seed if you want the bed to keep growing and cropping. The seed can be plentiful but cropping of the leaves for cooking needs constant cutting and using. They are stronger than Spring Onions so great for cooking and stir frying. They do seem to suffer in extreme cold and need to be composted regularly. This year we thought the dry weather had done for them. Browning and bleached they looked a bit sickly or should I say dead. I cut them off and mulched and watered like crazy. Mulching with grass clippings and compost. It supresses the weeds and helps with the water retention. Our onion bed is now thriving, but I left them alone to recover from their dry spell. At some point you need to stop and make sure the underground bits have chance to build up some strength and vigour. I collect the seed and start in the greenhouse if I want to add to the bed after a couple of years. It means the small plants don’t get inadvertently weeded when they are small.
• Bulbs grow with water but can bolt and go to seed. For heritage varieties it’s good to let a big juicy one goes to seed. Leave it over winter (although I lift and let them over winter in a cool place as ell to give me a plan B – we all need a plan B) and let it grow then blow up into wonderful flowers- loved by so many insects. When the black seed heads are ripe and starting to fall collect them for next year. I try to stagger them. So each year there are plants for seeds growing in the bed with the ones I harvest.
• If you are building your onions to a suitable size and they do bolt, try to catch the flower bud early and pinch it out.
• Shallots and some onion sets can be overwintered in the ground, but I have to say spring planting after keeping them dry and cool over winter. I also think about covering them bubble wrap, an old compost bag and compost to help keep them warm.
• I’ve also had a lot of success with old drainpipes. I’ve grown small onions in them and found them a great way to start the seeds off over the winter.

What to do with the glut

• Preserving onions must start with pickling the – especially if you have shallots. See our recipe sheet for a starter idea. We use some of our home-grown chillies in the mix for a bit more of a kick.
• Keeping them dry and in a cool place once the leaves have fallen back and dried. Do not leave the bulbs in the ground if its excessively wet though. I’ve got a rack I made from some old wire netting if this happens to help get them dry.
• You can slice peeled onions and freeze them. Try to freeze them on a tray as individual pieces before bagging them.
•  Don’t throw the skins away. We use them to make stock by adding them and the chopped end to a stock pot with other peeling and bones of the roast. Obviously, eave out relevant bits if you want a veggie stock. The waste (not the bones) goes to compost.
• It’s hard to say what to put on our recipe card. Onions seem to be everywhere, but we put a couple there for you.