Forum home› Fruit & veg

Garlic/ Onions outgrown cell trays

connie77connie77 Posts: 151
in Fruit & veg
Hi All, I need some help please? I have planted my Garlic / Onions in cells last Autumn,( as my plot is prone to flooding) now they are too tall. Can I plant them into my polytunnel or outside yet? Thanks 

Posts

  • SkandiSkandi Posts: 1,721
    edited January 2020
    Garlic needs to get cold in order to form cloves so that should be outside now, onions, well that depends on what type of onion you planted, (some are more winter hardy than others) Whichever type of onion you have anything you want to move outside now in the coldest two months of the year will need some serious hardening off, that goes for the garlic as well. I won't be planting onions outside until March, if sets get too cold they tend to bolt later on (depends on type! some are bred for overwintering). With seed sown onions you can give them a pretty radical haircut down to 3 cm or so it won't do them any harm (well I guess it does!) and some people even say it makes onions (and leeks) better if you trim them a couple of times before planting out.
  • steephillsteephill Posts: 2,810
    Mine were planted direct into the soil last October and are growing well. Polytunnel should be OK, not sure about outside if they have been inside all this time. Maybe they will need to be hardened off for a few days before permanent outdoor planting but I haven't done that before so am just guessing.

  • connie77connie77 Posts: 151
    Thankyou Skandi & Steephill ( in Lincoln with that name by any chance? ) I have all my onion sets & Garlic in my Coldframe open a few inches so they do get cold , so should be hardened off by now, been in since Autumn.  
  • SkandiSkandi Posts: 1,721
    If they are in a coldframe now I would think they will be fine in the polytunnel, it will be about the same temperature anyway.
  • connie77connie77 Posts: 151
    Ok Skandi, Thanks for the advice, 👍
Sign In or Register to comment.