Apart from keeping the slugs away (I use pellets) and weeding, there doesn’t seem to be much else to do. The rubbish weather in spring and early summer means that I don’t even need to water them. I give them one feed of Maxicrop in mid May, but otherwise they are left to their own devices.

And here I hit upon another snag. Because the raised beds are in the back corner of the garden, which faces SE, the majority of incident sunlight comes from the right side of the plants. I notice in late May that they have all developed a lean.

Leaning onions

I read that the top exhibition growers use rings to hold the foliage vertical, and I wished I had thought of that when planting out. Anyway, in June I make my own rings out of 3mm fencing wire and try to persuade the onions to stand more upright. My understanding is that the bulbs really begin to swell after the longest day, so I want to make sure that the feeding of the bulbs from the foliage is evenly distributed. This could be complete myth but I think it is worth a try. Consequently, some of the onions now looked a little bedraggled and abused.

In addition to the onions which are misshapen, those at the back of the beds are suffering from reduced ambient light and attack from slugs. These weaker plants will never make show quality and so I’m down to about 14 onions to choose from.