A couple of weekends ago I planted out two rows of onions (Autumn Champion) and promptly left them to over-winter. This weekend I went out to plant the garlic and noticed that I have two nice neat rows of green shoots from the onions already! :shocked: I didn't expect them to appear so soon, I can only assume it's a result of the particularly warm October weather we've had.

Are they likely to survive now that the weather is turning colder? Do I need to protect them with fleece, or is it quite normal for them to appear quite early on (and they can be left to their own devices)?

Last winter I didn't even have a garden, so this is all new to me.. :P

Hi Tracie, mine (onion sets and garlic) have put on quite a bit of growth, I was thinking of mulching them with some leaves, or straw over the winter to give a bit of protection, but then we had frost last night !!!! Going on Saturday to see how they are.

I'd wondered about fleece, but do you think the additional warmth will encourage too much growth ?

Last year I didn't plant my garlic until December (around Christmas) - it was bitterly cold, I gave them no protection and they did just fine.

My veggie patch was covered with frost this morning. The new growth from the onions looks OK at the moment, but I think a leaf mulch is a good idea. I suppose I just didn't expect them to appear so quickly - I had imagined that they would be more or less dormant until the spring!

My garlic hasn't appeared yet, but I planted it out later than the onions so it hasn't been exposed to the same warm weather as t'onions.

Good point about the fleece encouraging extra growth, I hadn't thought of that... I think you're right, a good leaf mulch is the way to go.

well, I visited today and they look just fine, so I've left them unmulched - for now.

Direct sowed my broadbeans, but have covered those with fleece, mainly to protect them if they emerge and get frosted but also to protect them from the birds (on the advice of my lottie neighbour).

Hiya!

Monty Don had his showing on telly last night too & didn't seem too harrassed about it.

Hey if Monty's chilled - I'm chilled :thumbsup:

Ah, well, if it's alright with Monty, I'm happy! :hihi:

I had a quick look at them this morning and they look fine, so I guess I'll hold off with mulch now too. Apparently this week is going to be warmer than last week was anyway :thumbsup:

Thanks for the replies and advice! :D

I've not done any gardening till now either - i was wondering, since your onions are sprouting after being recently planted, would it be possible to plant some now, or is it too late? All my attempts to grow things in summer were thwarted, so would be ace if i could get something to grow now!

Hi spanna :wave: If you could get hold of some over-wintering onion sets, I don't think it would be too late to plant them now. Certainly any garlic you plant now will be fine for the spring so you could definitely try that.

Do you have space in your garden for these or are you thinking about getting an allotment? :)