Welsh onions (Allium fistulosum) have only a minimal connection to the Welsh nation; both were once thought strange or foreign, which was an archaic meaning of welsh. They are a perennial onion which spreads by forming new tubers; typically the hollow (fistulated) green stems are what is eaten, although the bulbs are also edible.

I’ve grown them before but let them lapse. However I recently got some more plants from my mum and these went into the allotment this afternoon:

It is another no-dig bed, using one side of a patch that I’d been growing a green manure mix on. After trimming the various plants down to the ground (roots mainly left in situ), I watered the area and covered it with cardboard. That was topped with compost into which I made planting holes and inserted the onions.

All of the compost was produced on the allotment – a lot of it came from the heap today, including a finer grade which you can’t see and the coarser mulch which was left after sifting. The onions are planted in the compost and I expect they will get their roots down into the soil beneath. Meanwhile, the mulch will help retain moisture and inhibit weeds (any which do root in it will be easy to pluck out). We could be getting frosts within about six weeks so there’s not much more time for planting things out but these should have an opportunity to get established.