When I transplanted my onion seedlings a few weeks ago, I had no compost
ready to use and only a small bag of manure - I was going away and didn't
want to leave them, nor did I have much time to do anything and so I tried
something.
I remebered digging deep trenches for onions and leeks for my dad and
filling them with all kinds of stuff like manure, compost, newspaper and
anything else that was at hand, my only gripe was that onions seemed to me
to send roots straight down from the bulb, therefore a trench was mostly
wasted.
I got a length of 4" plastic drainpipe about 4ft long and rammed it into the
ground to about 20 inches, lifted out a core of soil and filled the hole
with a rich mixture of horse dung, compost and all manner of other goodies
and planted the onions in that, they seem to be going like the proverbial
clappers, and it only took ten minutes instead of a few hours....has anyone
else tried anything similar to this?

I remember reading years ago about specimen carrot growers using plastic
drainpipes filled with soft sandy soil and whatever other nutrients the
carrots needed to reach maximum length....

--
If God had intended us to drink beer, He would have given us stomachs.

"Phil L" wrote in message
. uk...
When I transplanted my onion seedlings a few weeks ago, I had no compost
ready to use and only a small bag of manure - I was going away and didn't
want to leave them, nor did I have much time to do anything and so I tried
something.
I remebered digging deep trenches for onions and leeks for my dad and
filling them with all kinds of stuff like manure, compost, newspaper and
anything else that was at hand, my only gripe was that onions seemed to me
to send roots straight down from the bulb, therefore a trench was mostly
wasted.
I got a length of 4" plastic drainpipe about 4ft long and rammed it into
the
ground to about 20 inches, lifted out a core of soil and filled the hole
with a rich mixture of horse dung, compost and all manner of other goodies
and planted the onions in that, they seem to be going like the proverbial
clappers, and it only took ten minutes instead of a few hours....has
anyone
else tried anything similar to this?

I remember reading years ago about specimen carrot growers using plastic
drainpipes filled with soft sandy soil and whatever other nutrients the
carrots needed to reach maximum length....

I've heard about the carrot growing technique. My soil here is clay, and is
carrot unfriendly. In future I will try making holes with a dibber/drainpipe
and
filling them with lighter compost/soil to make life easier foe not nly
carrots, but
other veg. One of the problems I have is that the clay forms iron-hard lumps
in
the sun, or is just a heavy mush in the wet, so as well as using holes full
of
compost, I'll be trying1b lime/ sq. yard this year to condition the soil.

Strangely, most of my onions don't seem to mind the clay soil, though there
are
always a proportion which never really get started. Still, who knows how big
they might get in the right conditions, so I'll try the drainpipe hole thing
with
them next year too. Maybe the compost in the holes will warm up faster than
the clay soil too, which is another reason I suspect young veg planted in my
soil often just sit there for weeks just languishing!

Andy.

"Phil L" wrote in message
. uk...
When I transplanted my onion seedlings a few weeks ago, I had no compost
ready to use and only a small bag of manure - I remebered digging
deep trenches for onions and leeks for my dad and
filling them with all kinds of stuff like manure, compost, newspaper and
anything else that was at hand, my only gripe was that onions seemed to
me
to send roots straight down from the bulb, therefore a trench was mostly
wasted.
I got a length of 4" plastic drainpipe about 4ft long and rammed it into
the
ground to about 20 inches, lifted out a core of soil and filled the hole
with a rich mixture of horse dung, compost and all manner of other
goodies
and planted the onions in that, they seem to be going like the
proverbial
clappers, and it only took ten minutes instead of a few hours....has
anyone
else tried anything similar to this?

This reminds me of the 'french' system-a highly intensive growing method-
where all the soil is prepared to a depth of upto 2 feet. As you say many
roots go downwards and I guess that the extra depth of cultivated and
composted soil gives any plants a good advantage

michael adams wrote:

::
:: The only problem I'd see is watering, as the bulbs [you hope
:: anyway] start to fill the pipe at the top. The point about the
:: carrots AIUI is that the shape forces the root to go down further,
:: searching for moisture. I think special watering techniques are
:: used in addition i.e from underneath.

The onions are planted directly into the soil, the pipe was used only to
make a deep round hole.


--
If God had intended us to drink beer, He would have given us stomachs.

spakker wrote:

This reminds me of the 'french' system-a highly intensive growing method-
where all the soil is prepared to a depth of upto 2 feet. As you say many
roots go downwards and I guess that the extra depth of cultivated and
composted soil gives any plants a good advantage

Also known as the Chinese system or Deep Bed system. It seems to have
developed in parallel in places where land prices were very high, and so
getting the biggest yield possible was important to success. The French
system you spoke of was developed by market gardeners working small plots
of land on the outskirts of Paris.

Apologies if you knew all this already!

--
"I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World
War IV will be fought with sticks and stones."
-- Albert Einstein