Onion Harvest

I always see onions as one of the least profitable crops to grow, I mean a huge bag can still be bought for pence, but they are hugely satisfying to have growing in the garden. 

They look incredible as they grow and it's awesome to have your own onions to add to chutneys and preserves. I love when they are ready to harvest and the tops fold over. 

This year I had planted a load from seed in January, but in the end a friend gave me three bags of sets after buying a job lot of mixed ones. I put these in fairly late, although started them in modules. 

Other than watering them in I haven't watered them at all even in this dry summer we've been having. I did add plenty of manure before planting and I put the already started sets through plastic. I think that planting through woven plastic with burnt holes helps lock in the moisture and reduces weeding. I know people are trying to use less plastic but I've had some of these sheets for many years now and they're showing no signs of breaking down yet. 

I see many adopting No-Dig practices, but if you're having to buy in bagged compost them there is a heavy plastic cost there as well. I tried a no-dig bed this year and it wasn't great, I think mainly because the compost I used wasn't great, it puts your reliance on others producing soemthign you can use if you need a lot of it.

I hope to get my composting area remade this autumn as I've just ripped out all the rotting pallets I had been using.

 How was your onion harvest. This year for me I had some great onions, the reds I was particularly impressed with considering they normally bolt on a normal year,  but I also had many small ones that didn't grow at all. A very mixed bag.

I keep trying to work out the areas I need for us to be self sufficient in alliums, but I think the problem with onions is storing them well. More shallots next year - the true keepers! 

How do you store your onions? How many do you grow to see you through the year (or how long do your own onions last?)

Shallots & Garlic Ready For Storage

This year I hadn't gone mad with alliums, instead I'd concentrated on the higher price tag veg like garlic and shallots, in fact I hadn't grown any onions but I do have a full bed of leeks looking like they're ready for winter and going to taste amazing! 

Lovely shallots

So on Tuesday I sat down and actually sorted through what I'd grown and got it ready for storage. Something I should do straight away, not months after, but didn't have the time to when I harvested. 

I was really annoyed at myself while I was doing it, there was some garlic that had gone mouldy because it was left at the bottom of the stack, that's wasted food that I'd spent time, space and effort growing.

garlic sorted ready for storage. 

I also sorted through and cleaned up my shallots as well. I grew two different types and you don't need to be a horticulturist to tell them apart!

 The one batch were amazing, not a bad one in there and all looked beautiful (and they taste amazing as well, with a delicate flavour), whereas the other batch all looked dehydrated (I'm guessing from being dried in the greenhouse) and although still usable they just don't appeal in the same way. 

The somewhat obligatory picture of one of my children at work

Not such great shallots

Stored ready for use over winter - although i know they won't last long! 

I need to make a real effort to spend more time looking after what I've grown, my main trouble is I'm always far too busy with my own paying work in the summer, something I need to take measures to alter in someway, working from home more and on site less I think. 

I've often said that the most important part of self sufficiency is food storage, because there's little point in growing it all if you can't store it to use when you need it. 

Alliums are a prime example of this, treat them right and you can have a supply all year round, take you eye off the ball, like I have here, and you'll be left with very little when you need it most. 

I'm now planning my harvest for next year and I'm going to order in all new stock for my garlic and shallots (although I might grow the shallots from seed instead) so that I'm not breeding on from a harvest I wasn't happy with. The rust problem I had alone has put me off using my own stock of garlic blubs/cloves let alone the storage problems.

What alliums do you grow for storage over winter?  

What is your favourite type of shallot and garlic to grow?

Any tips for good storage with these crops?

Alliums - How Many To Plant?

My leeks are looking very proud and big this year, it's crop I seem to have nailed and I've been really pleased as I've started to dig them up. 

When I start to use a crop like this that's been growing for months I always start to wonder if I've grown enough. I have one 10ft by 4ft bed full of leeks but I'm sure if we ate them with more gusto it wouldn't last us until march. The onions in the shed are already running low but I knew I didn't have enough of those planted to last us out. 

In fact I think alliums are a really tricky one to grow the right amount. I currently have two complete beds taken up with next years crops, garlic and shallots, that's without having room for my onions or next years leeks. Out of 16 beds total in rotation that's a lot of space currently being dedicated to them. 

When I cook I tend to use them a lot, most meals I cook use an onions and garlic, probably three or four out of five meals, so over a year that means I'd need about 300 without allowing for spoilage, making preserves or large meals when friends or family come round. I know that shallots can bridge the gap a little bit and I need to be better at using them but due to how much longer they take to prepare I tend to use them only where a recipe calls for it. 

The other downside is the fact that they are a fairly low value crop and the taste isn't hugely different to what you'd get in the shops (although I know how I grew them). If you were short on space I'd suggest leaving out the common onion for more exotic crops, although they are strangely satisfying to grow. 

So how much space to delicate to the lowly allium in your veg garden? If you were going for self sufficiency how many do you think you'd need?

Allium Harvest

All the alliums (except the leeks obviously) have now been pulled and are drying in the greenhouse or on slabs outside.

Some things have done better than others. 

Lots of shallots! I think I should just grow these!

 The shallots did really well this year and we've a good amount to use in the coming months and enough to save to plant again next year. I roasted some with a roast the other day and I'd forgotten how good they taste, slightly caramelised on the outside and meltingly gooey in the middle - delicious!

All the onions, a bit small but they should keep us in onions for a while

 My onions weren't so good. The rust from my chives did spread but it didn't do too much damage, but I'm not sure how well they would have done with out it.

The red onions didn't amount to much. A lot of them tried to bolt and didn't really bulb up much and some have gone soft already, I'm ready to give up on red onions and just plant more shallots next year.

The brown onions were slightly better, none of them are going to win any awards for biggest veg but most reached a usable size and look healthy so should keep well.

Garlic drying in the greenhouse

 The garlic was a big success. I managed to harvest thirty two good sized bulbs with a handful of smaller ones that we'll use straight away. I was worried that I'd planted them too close together (my usual trick) but I fed them quite often and this has paid off. 

Thirty two good sized garlic bulbs with a handful of smaller ones

I'll save the biggest bulbs to plant again next season, leaving us a good amount to use. I'm not sure it's a years supply but it won't be far off. 

How has everyone else's alliums done this year? 

How are you going to be storing them?

Last Years Onions

Hung up in the shed, the onions have lasted well.

I've just brought the last bunch into the house this weekend.

Suspended from a hook by their plaits (good practise with two young girls (the plaiting - not suspending them from their plaits!)) I doubt they would have lasted so long if this winter hadn't been so mild. The shed isn't insulated so when it gets really cold so does everything in there (although it does give a bit of protection). I made sure I checked them regularly so any that are starting to deteriorate got used up first and they were above the chicken corn so I could see them everyday.

.

I know I'm always asking questions about how to store food, but what method works best for storing onions? I know some fellow bloggers will have a lot of onions left that will store for a good while yet and I plan to plant a lot more this year do storage will be key.

George's Shallots

The last few weeks I've been working with an old carpenter, George, on the roof in the rain. He's 70 and I guess I've known him for over ten years now. When I first met him he taught me how to skin a rabbit, prepare an eel, pickle a walnut- all I had to do was bring them into work an he's cook them up for lunch or show me the best way to eat them. It was quite a laugh looking back on it and I think he certainly helped fuel the fire that I had for doing all the things I love doing now.

I lost contact with him for 8 years so it's been nice to be working with him again and our conversations are pretty much what they used to be - gardening, or food related! We've been talking a lot about what we think is the best thing to grow in the garden and one of the things that came out on the top of George's list was his shallots.

He has no idea of the variety but says they grow well every year and he stores them for two years with very few problems. Then he asked if I'd like to grow them! Well it would be rude to turn him down...

So although it's a little late to be planting these, I'm sure they wouldn't have done much better in the ground over this wet winter and they should soon catch up if we have a good spring. This might be one more vegetable that I can be self sufficient in (we rarely buy them as they're too expensive anyway). I'll save enough to plant each year, eat the rest and hopefully they'll bridge the gap when we have no onions.

How well does everyone else do with shallots and do you think they'll help with the bigger picture of trying to be self sufficient?