Jan 18th, 2012
Which Onion Sets to Buy?
It’s about this time of year that I start to think about buying Onion sets. I must admit in previous years I have tended to buy what they were selling at the garden centre. But after growing a variety called Snowball last year I was very disappointed by its yield. I put it down to my soil or maybe me just not looking after them properly. But I recently read a trial that said that particular variety performed poorly – so maybe I should start taking notice of these trials?
Apparently, the soil here in the UK is not suited to all varieties of Onions. Sweet onions (the likes of which they grow in Spain) are difficult here because there are too many sulphur compounds in the soil (Which? Gardening January 2012).
I always grow from sets (immature Onions) rather than seed. And was interested to see that the following Onions did well in trials for UK soil:
Brown Onions
Troy (best overall 2010) – although many places don’t sell this variety anymore.
Autumn Gold – matures end of July
Centurion – matures mid July
Forum – matures mid July
Red Onions
Garnet – matures early Aug
Hyred – matures early Aug
Red Baron – matures early Aug
I think I’ll be giving Troy a go and also either Garnet or Hyred since I’ve already grown Red Barons in the past.
