On Sun, 28 Aug 2005 09:51:43 +0100, "ajr" wrote:
Good morning,
On an impulse buy I purchased some onion sets yesterday that (according to
the label) should be planted in the autumn.

Yep, autumn, that is about right.

Had a look through a couple of gardening books, but there is no mention of
growing onions over the winter!

Have you looked under/searched on "Japanese Onions" ?
Cos that is what they are usually known as.

Does anyone know when these should be planted

Autumn !

and when they will be mature -

worth eating when they are big enough, ie. about mid May here.
They will 'mature' ie. turn brownish on the skins about June/July -ish
They don't keep/store as well as the 'normal' onions so they are not
worth maturing for that purpose alone.
They will only keep till about xmas giveortake a bit., whereas
'ordinary' onions will keep well into the new year (sometimes even up
till the next Japanese onions are big enough to eat).

I'm guessing that I should put them in October / November time

that sounds more like winter to me ! brrrrr!!

I usually do my Japanese Onion sets late Sep - early Oct depending on
omens and feelings, some folk do them in mid Sep. Depends where you
are and what kind of autumn-winter you expect.
As Robert has said, it is all about giving them time to get a good
root system developed (ready to turbocharge them in the spring) before
winter sets in, but not _too_ much top growth.

May I suggest 1/2 early and 1/2 later, then by May2006 you'll know
when the best time _was_ and can tell us all ;-!))

when I plant the garlic.

I usually do my garlic about the same time as you, Oct/ Nov approx,
but I do the onions a few weeks/month earlier than that.

Many thanks.
Andrew

Welcome to the club, and good luck :-)

PS
Excuse lateness of post, been to surplus cider drinking local fest.
(it all had to be consumed to make way for new ,,, hic ,,, )