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About ten days ago I put four varieties of seed in petri dishes - paper towel lined, dampened, then turned sideways on to drain off excess water. This weekend I am pricking out the seedlings into 8" pots of compost. The target is transplantation in mid to late April.

The pots of compost/sprouted seeds will be kept in a large frame. If really cold weather threatens I'll bring them indoors.

The purpose of this labour intensive method is to initiate lots of "layer formation" in the seedlings before the daylight/nighttime ratio gets too high - at which point the seedlings stop producing new layers and concentrate on fleshing up. The more layers in an onion the bigger the onion, others things being equal. (Don't try to achieve big store onions by using lots of nitrogen; they won't keep - too watery.)

There is still time to use this method, if you get moving.

My uncle used to grow onions for competitions and would sow onion seeds on Boxing Day! Personally I tend to grow onion sets, which certainly don't grow as large but are big enough for my own limited consumption.

If you sprinkle potash around your onions that will make them larger. Well thats what some old boy said to me years ago and it seems to work.

I might try that

I've personally never bothered with growing onions from seed as I tend to grow them from heat treated sets which can be bought cheaply from somewhere like Wilkinsons or the local garden centre. I have always gone for an onion called centurion (when available) which grows well in crappy weather. I just prepare the growing bed with plenty of organic matter and throw a bit of blood and bone mix around them every so often making sure they are weed free and have water when required. If you are wanting BIG onions take a look at http://www.mammothonion.co.uk

Cheers

John

What I aim for are big onions (not giant) that will keep. Lots of CLOSELY SPACED rings when sliced across the equator.