It could end in tears ...

You may have guessed that this post will be about onions and you would be right although more correctly the allium family.

You may also have thought that the title refers to the attack on your tear glands as onions fight for their lives when you prepare them for the pot. Apparently enzymes escape from the cut onion to produce a volatile sulphur that reacts with the water in your eyes to create sulphuric acid. It's hardly surprising that this makes our eyes water. Sounds scary doesn’t it sulphuric acid in the eyes?

Actually what the title refers to is far more scary if you grow your own. Our onions, shallots, leeks, garlic, chives and even ornamental alliums could soon be under attack from a pest that was first spotted in Wolverhampton in 2003 – the allium leaf miner, (some of you may already be suffering its presence). Since that time it has gradually been spreading to other parts of the country. It seems that if this pest is prevalent in your area that the only answer is to grow under fleece or enviromesh as we do our carrots. We haven’t seen any signs yet but I guess it is only a matter of time! You can read more information here.

Until such a time that the dreaded allium leaf miner strikes we will carry on regardless. At the end of September we planted our autumn onions Autumn Champion and Senshyu Yellow (can’t provide any links for Autumn Giant as they are unavailable at this time of the year but they came from Dobies). They never grow much through winter but still look OK and on target to provide onions from about June. We start to harvest as soon as they look big enough to use as they don’t keep well but certainly fill a gap.

We planted garlic in October from one of the bulbs that we grew last year – I’m not sure whether it was Solent Wight or Purple Wight as the garlic was mixed up and neither looked particularly purple. We planted four bulbs last year and had enough garlic to render all the vampires in the universe helpless. The cloves were planted in pots in our cold greenhouse where they will remain until around the end of March/beginning of April. It’s a case of really waiting until the ground is ready as the cold won’t hurt them – in fact they need a period of cold to form cloves.

This year we are adding Elephant garlic to our list which is not really a garlic at all but belongs to the leek family. It’s supposed to be milder than garlic and can be used raw in salads.

For a few years now we have planted heat treated onion sets. They are a bit more expensive than the standard sets but we think they are worth it as the onions are far less likely to bolt and set seed. They are planted a little later (March last year) as the sets have to be heat treated for 20 weeks before they are sent out. This is suppose to destroy the flower bud which is developing inside the set. We will be growing four varieties of onion this year, Fen Early – an early variety, Hyred (red) which we grew last year, Hytech which is claimed to be the best heated treated onion and stores really well, We are also growing Stuttgarter Stanfield which isn't heat treated so it will be interesting to compare them to the others. Most are new for this year. This isn’t because there was anything wrong with last year’s choices but each year different varieties are bundled together as a collection by the seed companies.

Shallot sets ordered for this year are Pikant which performed the best of the two varieties we planted last year and new for this year Picasso. We are also going to have a go at growing some shallot seeds – Ambition. We haven’t tried growing shallots from seed before so this will be a learning experience. This year if the weather hasn’t improved by the time the shallots arrive we may consider getting them off to a good start in pots.

At the beginning of last year our spring onions were very slow to germinate and even once they had germinated were very slow to grow. I read somewhere (as you do) that ones described as bunching onions are more reliable and so we bought a couple of packets White Bunching Onion and Performer which certainly peformed better. This year so far we have bought a packet of Crimson Forest that produce red onions. We thought we had some of last year’s seeds left but if they don't turn up we will buy some other varieties later.

Weather conditions meant that we were a bit late planting our leeks last year and so they are fairly small. Next year we will have to try and get them in earler. The trouble is it can depend on the weather and soil conditions. This year we have ordered Giant Winter which we grew last year. It didn’t live up to the giant part of its name but I don’t think it was its fault and so it is being given another chance. A new variety for this year is Blue (or Bleu) Solaise both are praised for their hardiness which if we have a repeat of this winter will be a bonus.

We have lots and lots of chives which have seeded themselves prolifically so far from planting more I think this year they will benefit from a severe tidy. They are really pretty when on flower though and the bees love them. Maybe I can use some to edge some of the other vegetable beds.

Just hope that the dreaded allium leaf miner keeps its distance and that none of you are affected by it!