This morning I popped to Homebase to buy some Garlic that I’ll plant tomorrow (you’ll have to wait until tomorrow to find out about how I’m planting that), but what confused me the most was that I got 2 varieties, 1 bag of “Casablanca” at £2.99 and 2 bags of “Early Purple Wight” at £1.99 a bag. When I got to the cash desk the “Early Purple Wight” rang up at just 10p each!! Bargain. There was nothing on the package to say it was on 10p, so I think the computer got it wrong. Still I wasn’t going to complain!! I would go back and get some more, but I got the last 2 bags!! Then this afternoon I started off my Onion sets in half toilet rolls, It took me about and hours to get them all done, but then I did have quite a few to do. 66 of “Hercules”, 65 “Certurion” and 61 “Stuttgarter Giant” So hopefully that’ll keep us going for a while once I’ve harvested them. The rain and strong winds have started to arrive, but apparently tomorrow is supposed to be even worse. But at least it’s not snowing which is a good thing.
I have 8 trays in total of Onions all starting to grow. Please don’t cry!!
Clairesallotment's Blog 
Why have you put the onions in toilet rolls?
I do this so they can get a head start in growing before they have to go outside. By the time the weather is warm enough for them to go outside they should have a good root system on them and shoots of about 6 inches. I find that if I do it this way then they tend to grow better. The loo roll with biodegrade in the soil.
You know, I’ve never found that the toilet roll biodegrades fast enough, though I guess onion roots would be less frustrated at being confined than peas.
Awesome Claire i have not got any as yet or garlic but lovely post have a blessed day
It’s the perfect time to start them off. Pop to your local garden centre as soon as you can and get some.
Too early still for me to do this where I live Claire but thanks for this suggestion. I tried it last year based on one of your old videos and it worked brilliantly, our onions were much larger with this head start. I did the same for my father in law so when he came back to his summer home from Florida he could have some decent onions. We’ll be doing the same again this year.
Lovely to know that it works in Florida as well. We went there on holiday for Christmas 2014. Had an amazing time, but I don’t do rides.
Florida is quite nice though I don’t think I want to retire there like my in-laws. The onions I started for myself and my father in law were actually grown in Vermont, in the northeast US. Thinking about Helen’s comment, we didn’t have any problems with the tubes biodegrading. I think because a bit like where you live Claire, we typically get a fair bit of moisture in the summer and that may have helped keep the tubes moist longer to allow them to break down. I wonder if Helen lives someplace a bit drier.