Day 22 Part 2 - Getting to Know Your Onions.

Discussion had been, not going to grow onions, by the time you grow them they cost more than if you just bought some down the shop, to be frank (and we have a lot of carpet so we can be) everything is cheaper in the shops, you really have to factor in the exercise and enjoyment of seeing what you have planted grow. So whilst we were out shopping yesterday we saw a bag of onion bulbs for less than 4p each, so our lass said "Go on if you want" to which I replied "I had thought of doing them, and we do eat them"
So we now have Onion sets, If you read the advice you are supposed to plan a few months in advance, we sometimes only plan as we walk to where we are going, luckily we had a bed which had been covered in horse manure a month ago, also, as i thought it was space I wanted to add more, but our lass stopped us, which was just as well.
Onions need 4 to 6 weeks autumn warmth, not harsh winter, so they can set roots into the soil, so even though our packaging said you could plant up to December, in all honesty I think we have planted just about as late as you can, so they will be ready for any frosts when they go dormant. They are expected to be ready for June/July.
They need well drained soil, but also need lots of moisture, quite a contradiction. So we have dug over the manure, and put some grit on top as you will see in the photographs, we have planted two rows either side, with a row in the middle free for a companion plant, we did think carrots but onions and carrots do not get on, so it is likely to be leeks or beetroot. 
Lets see what happens.

Here is hoping we can grow something like it looks like on the packet

The bed to begin with

Dug and raked, but not as good as our lass would have done

Applying the grit

Spot the onion, all ready for next year