Page 11 - Simply Vegetables Spring 2023

Our experience with Red Rover onions
EMILY PLUMB FNVS
At the time of writing, it’s a cold January evening and the nights aren’t drawing out quick enough for my liking yet – I cannot wait until spring. However, we’ll be there by the time you’re reading this – thank goodness! In the meantime, we’re reflecting on our gardening endeavours from prior years and planning what we’d like to try (or try again!) in 2023.
A new variety to us for 2022 was a
trial red onion, 37-222, later named Red Rover, which we received in our NVS SV magazine. These were kindly donated
to the NVS’ members by Medwyn’s of Anglesey to support the Chairman’s Shield class at the National Championships last year.
We sowed these in mid-January in quarter seed trays in Seed and Modular compost before pricking out into 60 cell trays once germinated. The photo shows the sowing we’ve done for 2023 and how they’re progressing, but they were very similar (just sown a little bit later) in 2022.
In mid-February, these were then potted up into 3” square pots in multipurpose compost.
In early May, we planted these out. We grew some in our raised bed in the garden for eating, and Mum and Dad did the same. In addition, they grew some in 3 litre pots in a cold greenhouse which they hoped
to exhibit. These were planted out slightly earlier, around mid-April.
These were grown on where they were planted out until harvest. Those in the garden were occasionally fed with a high potash liquid feed as they were starting to
bulb up and otherwise kept moist during the drier weather we experienced last
year. The ones we grew in pots in the greenhouse were also grown to maturity in these pots. Again, we kept the compost in these moist throughout, and occasionally fed with high potash liquid feed as the bulbs started to swell.
To help support the foliage for the ones grown for exhibition, we used short canes and green plant support clips as you can see in the photo.
When ready to harvest, we lifted each onion bulb, removed any rough outer skins and prepared them for drying. Those that were intended for exhibition had their leaves and roots trimmed with a pair of
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