And we're off

[zigs]

Boxing day is the traditional day to start Exhibition onions from seed

Used vermiculite on top of some compost to try and avoid damping off fungus.

I've used Kelsae seeds, but there are others available such as Bedfordshire Champion

 

[Chuck]

Zigs...If you have it over there sprinkle a teaspoon of whole ground cornmeal or horticultural cornmeal (not the enriched kind) over the top

 

[zigs]

Got some Custard powder, that's got cornflour in it

 

[Chuck]

Got some Custard powder, that's got cornflour in it

I don't know what that is. Whole ground cornmeal, sometimes called stone ground cornmeal is the growing medium of choice for a fungus called Trichoderma. Trichoderma is a beneficial fungus that attacks and kills other fungi such as the Damping Off Fungi, among other harmful fungi

 

[CanadianLori]

What are Exhibition onions?

 

[zigs]

What are Exhibition onions?

Onions grown mainly for showing, mine are the 3 behind the one on the black cloth, didn't even stand a chance this year, I was moving house during the start of the growing season so mine spent a long while living on the car dashboard when they should have been in the ground

 

[CanadianLori]

Wow. Thank you for show and tell!

 

[zigs]

My pleasure

Unusually for big vegetables, Kelsae onions are really tasty and moist

Love a thick slice of them in a Vegiburger sandwich

 

[CanadianLori]

I love onions. When I make bruschetta I make my portion with extra.

Here is what I was up to on Christmas Day. Seeded some soil blocks with hot peppers.

 

[zigs]

Cor, you been busy

 

[CanadianLori]

Not really time consuming. It only took abot 10 minutes to make the soil blocks, another 15 to drop in seeds and seconds to drop sand on them. I reused labels from last year.

just picked up another 75 liters of potting soil.

eek, can't stop!

 

[claudine]

Yesterday was Boxing day? Where did this name come from? We call it 'the second day of Christmas'
I hope your onions will grow big and healthy!

 

[zigs]

Yesterday was Boxing day? Where did this name come from? We call it 'the second day of Christmas'
I hope your onions will grow big and healthy!

Dates back to medieval times, it was the day the Churches opened the collection boxes and gave the money to the poor, they waited till after Christmas so they didn't go spending it all on Special Brew.



Ta

 

[claudine]

I understand, thank you for the explanation. At first, I thought that this name has something to do with boxing as a sport

 

[headfullofbees]

My pleasure

Unusually for big vegetables, Kelsae onions are really tasty and moist

Love a thick slice of them in a Vegiburger sandwich

I've grown these onions before, and I can vouch for their sweetness, juiciness and tastiness.
However the first two mean that they don't store for too long.
Having a dozen 2kg Kelsae means onion soups, stews with lots of onions, onion tarts etc.
When I grew them, the thickest single layer was approx 8mm!