As many of you are aware I have always been strong on getting a woman to do something for you if you can get away with it. This is why I get Leesa to construct my trugs and then take the glory if I win. If I don't it's her fault. With this process in mind I've got a fellow NVS member Helen Vincent growing me some onions through the dark winter months whilst I take it easy. When I sat my NVS Judges Exam in October I visited Helen at her large garden in the New Forest and was able to witness her first attempt onions. I believe she won all the local shows she entered with them and i'm not surprised as she would have been in the tickets with them at National level in my opinion. They were a superb, classic flask-shape, beautifully ripened and bang on 1.5kg. For a first attempt they were quite awesome, and as I staged Dave Thornton's onions at Malvern where he got 2nd I know they were way ahead of his. He also got 5th at Llangollen, hence my confidence they'd compete at the National. She grew them in large pots so this is a method I will be employing myself, along with a bit more know-how on compost mixes and nutrients. More on this next year. If I'm going to get a set of three for a large collection I need a bit more than just a 'bit of compost in a pot'!
I need to set up my leek growing chamber in the garage in preparation for the leek seedlings I'll be collecting from Dave Metcalfe before too long. This is nothing more than a few wooden boards, lined with tin foil, with some green builders netting over them. A single grolight is suspended above them, one I bought off the internet several years ago and I have no idea what the make is. I shall post a photo of it all this weekend to show how disgracefully home made it really is. The thing is, after last season I can say with confidence that it actually works for me. This year I staged my leeks at Harrogate, Malvern, Westminster (where I placed 3rd below....got 30 quid for that!) and Derby alongside some of the country's best and I was scoring quite highly and certainly not there just to make up the numbers.
My leek plants are only kept ticking over during Winter so I don't want huge, lush plants that need larger, more elaborate growing chambers and heating systems. I plant out smallish plants but once they get their feet into my fertile raised beds I find they soon catch up and my girth is on a par with most of the growers I've competed against, although of course they have the genetic make up to grow large. I still think this is pretty good when you consider that all my leeks are grown on outdoors, although i'm thinking of putting some form of wind protection up next season as I do tend to get a few ripped flags if there are any high winds which would be pretty disastrous if it was close to showtime. Also, I gave my leeks very little TLC last season, bordering on total neglect at times, and as I want to stage a collection of 6 at Malvern I shall be going to town a lot more with them in 2012.
When I was at the Scottish seminar JBA were showing a bag of this compost specially formulated for growing on onions and leeks and I must admit it was pretty good looking stuff.
If you're thinking of ordering some go onto the JBA website to the following link:
http://www.jbaseedpotatoes.co.uk/maincrop/leek-and-onion-mix-p431.html
There is also a ready mixed potato compost available that will save an awful lot of messing about come Spring time.
http://www.jbaseedpotatoes.co.uk/maincrop/exhibition-potato-compost-p424.html
2 comments:
Simon, having read quite a lot of blogs on growing onions i have not come across any one to say why they only use big pots to grow big onions. I myself have grown 6lb onions in flower buckets which is half the size or less. Surely it cannot be because they need more bottom feed in the bottom as you know the roots do not get that long but will spread out to find food. I my self think it is mainly down to the mix you use in the beginning and preparation and final potting.
Peter Glazebrook grows his large onions in pots resembling large oil drums and most of the top growers are growing in minimum 20L pots these days. The big advantage as far as I can see is that they will retain a volume of water and not dry out so readily as small pots. Onions don't need a lot of water and a large pot will allow you to water away from the bulb and reduces the risk of introducing botrytis and other pathogens. The bulb can be kept dry when you come towards harvesting time.
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