RESOURCES

Birdland Seeds is passionate about assisting and educating gardeners and growers. We can help you to grow commercial quality organic food. Many gardeners have limited space and time, so it is valuable to learn how to grow more food of better quality, using less time and less space.

STORAGE ONIONS – This is how we grow amazing brown long keeping storage onions. Stage 1 = sow seeds to plug trays or similar!

After 4-6 weeks your onion seedlings should be ready for transplanting. Stage 2 = transplanting seedlings!

Here is an the onion bed in mid January, looking very nice! They fill out very fast ready for harvest late Feb.
Same onion bed “tops down” and ready for harvest late Feb.
Laying out the harvest somewhere under cover out of direct sun and with plenty of air flow for curing.

Leeks: a slow crop that takes some know how. There are various methods, but the easiest we have found at the smaller scale is a combination of influences. We use the Steve Solomon method of direct seeding into a leek nursery, which is a meter or so of dedicated garden bed. We find this much easier than growing seedlings in trays. In the garden the seedlings can get really quite big and long over 3 months. At this point they are dug out and taken to their final destination for transplanting.

We then use the JM Fortier style method of dropping the seedlings into pre made holes, using a bit of wood and hammer, or whatever you have on hand to get the job done. The holes are around 25-35mm diameter and 15-20cm deep. Prune off 1/2 the green leafy part of the seedlings, drop them in and water. No need to fill the holes back in. Another 3 mths and your leeks are ready!

The finished bed, leeks transplanted and watered in. Just need to add irrigation and weed regularly!

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