Early Onion Harvest & Leek Progress

This year's onion sets (Cupido F1 and Red Baron) were planted out on March 19th and harvested on August 5th. The photograph below was taken 10 days before harvesting...

Onion Patch on 26th July 2022

For comparison, last year's onion crop (also Cupido F1 and Red Baron) was also planted out on 19th March but harvested nearly 3 weeks later on 24th August.

A somewhat earlier harvest was to be expected due to the recent hot weather/heatwave. With the fair weather forecast to continue for the next ten days, including another heatwave with temperatures above 30 ℃, I have laid out the onions, on wire racks, to dry in the sunshine before putting them undercover to finish the curing process.

Onions laid out on wire racks to dry in the sun

I will calculate this year's crop yield once the curing process has finished. Qualitatively, the Cupido F1 yield looks to be down while the Red Baron yield is up relative to last year. The main reason seems to be this year's 250g pack of Cupido F1 onion sets contained fewer than last year's pack. Conversely, this year's 250g pack of Red Baron onion sets contained more than last year's. Harvesting this year's crop, I counted 54 white onions and 84 red onions. Overall, crop yield might be similar to last year though bulb size might be down a little due to the drier weather conditions in 2022.

Finally, an update on the leek experiment that involved planting later to avoid pests such as leek moth and allium leaf miner. The photograph below was taken on 5th August, approximately 10 weeks after seed sowing.

Leek Patch (August 5th)

One or two seedlings didn't make it but I had a few spares to fill in the gaps. The patch has been watered twice a week during the long dry spell we are currently experiencing. This photo was taken after giving the leeks a thorough soaking followed by feeding/mulching with sieved compost. Further updates to come.