I am a bit late getting started with the vegetable growing this year. However, now the weather is getting better and the days are getting noticeably longer, it is finally time to get serious.
The first major job was planting out the onion sets and garlic. Good preparation of the soil is very important.
1. Hand weed the 3 m x 2.4 m plot
2. Shallow dig (15 cm/6 inches) the whole plot.
3. Add 200 litres of sieved homemade soil improver (aka compost) and 100 litres of recovered coir-based growing medium from last year's Quadgrows/Planters (Photo 1) before raking to a fine tilth (Photo 2)
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| Photo 1: Weeded, Dug & Fed Onion Plot |
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| Photo 2: Raked, Levelled and Ready for Planting |
For the 2024 growing season I am planting two different onion sets: Red Baron and Snowball. Red Baron is an old favourite producing a good yield of medium-sized, mildly-flavoured bulbs that store well. Snowball is a new variety for me.
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| Photo 3: 2024 Onion Sets |
I plant my onion sets quite close together: 10 cm/4 inches apart in rows with 15 cm/6 inches between rows. Just push into the surface until most of the bulb is covered.
Mary had started off some garlic cloves (Purple Wight) in the greenhouse in late January and these were now ready to plant out.
The final job was to erect the insect-proof mesh around the plot to keep out pests such as cats, pigeons and onion fly (Photo 3).
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| Photo 4: Onion Sets (foreground) and Garlic Planted |
Later in the year, the spare ground will be filled with parsnips and beetroot.
Potatoes will be the next job!
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