what is eating my onion tops?

I arrived at the allotment to see that the tops of my onions, healthy last time I looked at them, have all been eaten at the tops - cropped no less! What caused it? I googled the question to find that everything from rabbits to deer, pigeons to slugs, caterpillars to unidentified bugs, have all been blamed. We have certainly had deer on the allotment before, but they do leave rather obvious footprints, especially when the ground is as soft as it is now after the recent heavy rain. And rabbits cannot fail but leave rather obvious droppings everywhere - and there were none. And pigeons to my knowledge have never attacked my garlic or onions before.
So I split a few of what remains of my own onion leaves down towards the base - guess what - SLUGS!!!!  Plus the odd startled earwigs, who on being exposed scuttled further down into the sheaths away from harm.

One thing occurs to me - by eating the tops in this way, water has ingressed into the leaves and must be finding its way down towards the bulbs - and will surely cause them to rot - so I think I shall harvest these as soon as I can - we are expecting a few dry and warm days now so that will be ideal for drying off the bulbs on the soil surface before taking them home and storing them somewhere dry and airy - our garden shed is ideal!

Now how's that for red cabbages!? My husband has a super recipe for cooking them and they are then frozen down for winter use when not much else is available.

Self sufficiency

These photos show just how busy my allotment plot still is even at this time of year, when many around me have cleared their plots and started digging in manure before leaving fallow for the winter.
What a waste of space!
The brussel sprouts are swelling up well and we had our first meal off them last week, with many more pickings to come over the next month or so. By that time those spring cabbages will be ready for eating, and I have plenty of red cabbages to last all through the winter as well. We have already cooked plenty of red cabbage and frozen it for use later when other fresh vegetables may be scarce.
The lettuce is also growing well and providing some welcome winter salad.
And those carrots I sowed only 4-5 weeks ago are producing the first edible thinnings - with the promise of some lovely roots to follow soon.


But these are just a few of the vegetables I am harvesting at the moment. To add to the list are spinach, swiss chard, parsnips, beetroots, leeks, celeriac, jerusalem artichoke, and a little late fennel that the frost didn't catch! Not bad for a stony field that 3 years ago no one imagined would come to anything at all!

More harvesting and seed sowing

Driving home from the allotment the distinct aroma in the car was of beef casserole. This came from the red onions I have just lifted - the leaves are well dried and died down and the bulbs look nicely formed and fat. I have therefore brought them home to finish drying off on the back patio and then I will make the smaller ones into ropes, in the same way as garlic. The larger heavier ones will be spread out in the frost free and dry garden shed for use throughout the winter.

The white onions need a little longer to mature for harvest.

The soil now released by the red onions is dry but nicely friable and I have lightly forked it over and raked it to as fine a tilth as can be managed bearing in mind the stones. The larger stones have been picked off and put on the paths within the plot.

My gardening book tells me that in a 4 year crop rotation plan carrots and other root crops can follow on from the onions. This is rather convenient. I think I have mentioned that my carrot crops have really failed this year - the plants look miserable and tiny and definitely not showing much sign of forming any half decent carrots for the kitchen. I am therefore going to sow the rest of the carrot seeds I have in my collection. The packets say sow until the end of July, so given the warm soil, then as long as I give the seeds plenty of water I hope I can grow a late crop. Let's see. I'll report back later!

The red cabbages are really looking good. I have never grown these before and am perhaps having beginners' luck. Some have a little caterpillar damage, but most of them look as near perfect as they can. The wire netting has kept the pigeons off, and in any event they seem to prefer the green brassicas, given the choice. Even pigeons can apparently have dietary preferences!