Since my last report I have been inundated with telephone calls and enquiries from Review readers I meet in the shops and streets asking about their onion plants.
The interest created by the competition has been enormous. As I have travelled around I have had an opportunity to visit many onion growers – from retired people to schoolchildren – and the enthusiasm from all parties has shown that people really like a challenge.
One schoolboy I visited showed me his plants grown from the seed supplied free by the Review. He was a little disappointed that he had raised only seven plants from 10 seeds and I explained that this was a good result as not many people raise plants from every seed.
His plants were very well grown and developed (I think his grandad was giving him some advice!) and they were at the two leaf stage and about three and a half inches high. Some were transplanted into three and three and a half inch pots and both were doing well.
I advised him that probably the ones in three inch pots would produce a more developed root system and that he would be able to pot them on into a four and half inch pot earlier, which would give the plants more impetus and create a better onion (this will have to be proved) and I would imagine he will tell me at a later stage.
The information I gave him was to prepare the ground ready to plant the onions.
This can be done at the present by placing some boards on the garden to walk on so as not to consolidate the rest of the ground, then to dig his trench one spade deep and place about two inches of well rotted farmyard manure in the bottom.
The trench should then be filled and left untouched until planting time which will be around May 10.
Keep your eye on the Review for more information in around four weeks.