Terry Walton explains how to string up your onions
And prepare the plot for planting out some tasty hardy vegetables
Most of my planting and sowing days are finished, as these shorter days and cooler nights don’t suit many growing vegetables. But during the coming weeks there’ll be a few hardy vegetables that can be planted out and will survive the winter. With a few dry days I can prepare my soil for garlic sets. Add some good compost and fork it to a fine tilth, ready in a few weeks’ time to receive the little bulbs.
A sure sign that the food supply for birds is diminishing is that my neighbourhood robin has taken me ‘back under his wing’ and is with me everywhere. He’s on the lookout for me to disturb soil or overturn a few leaves so that some tasty morsels are uncovered to satisfy his appetite. I was forsaken all summer while he raised his brood, but now they’ve flown the nest he’s back in territorial mode, fighting off all rivals for my patch of ground.
I’ve always collected fallen leaves. These are one of the finest soil improvers known to the organic gardener. At this time of year they flutter down from the branches and there’s such satisfaction in picking up armfuls of them to fill black sacks. Puncture a series of holes in the sacks, store them in a corner of the plot and let the winter do its work. It’s both a delight and a surprise in spring when you open this sack, as the contents have significantly diminished, but what’s left is a dark brown, friable material. This makes for a great seedbed when dug back into the soil.
The onions that have been drying for a few weeks now have papery- dry tops, and the bulbs feel firm and hard. The secret to a good supply of onions through winter is to ensure they’re very dry before storing in a cool but ventilated shed. Mine are certainly in this condition, so it’s time to string them up! Take a strong length of string and cut it to about
90cm (3ft) long. Knot it into a loop with two strong knots at the end. Take one of the larger onions and tie it securely against the knots. Thread the dry tops around the string and pull down to make a firm anchor. Take more of the onions and thread their dry foliage around the string and pull down so they’re firmly up against the ‘knotted’ onion at the bottom. When you have a bunch which is heavy enough to handle, then hang this bunch in the shed. Carry on with this process until all the onions are strung up. When one is needed for the kitchen, snip off with scissors and the bunch remains intact.