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Start your onion seeds now. Welcome to
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Gardening with Ben everybody. Now is the
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time to be sewing onion seeds. Now you
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with onions you can either grow them as
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sets which you often see in the garden
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centers in a like hessen bag with loads
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of little bulbs in it or you can grow
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them from seed from for yourself rather
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than the sets. Now I've done an
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experiment in the past. I once grew
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seeds and I once grew sets to see which
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ones grew best at my plot. I grew them
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as a side of each other so they same
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soil and same amount of watering that I
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did on them. And yeah, I did a little
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experiment to see which did the best
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because I wanted to see for myself cuz
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I'd just grown sets every single year
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because it's easy just to buy the bulbs
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and then just plant them in March, net
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them over and let them grow. And yeah, I
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thought why not? I'm going to give it a
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try and see which actually do best. So,
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I bought some seeds in January. January
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is the time to buy them. They'll be in
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all the garden centers now. And it's
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great to buy the seeds and get them
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growing. Obviously, they need heat. It's
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pretty cold in the a lotment in the poly
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tunnel in the shed and the greenhouse at
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the moment. So, they need the heat to
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get them germinated. So you need to make
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sure that you've got a decent windowill
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or a worktop surface that gets enough
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light, enough heat and to get them to
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germinate and they will start growing
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within a few weeks and then around
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March, April time, end of March,
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beginning of April time, then you can
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plant them out in all the rows. Now
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obviously growing them from seed, you
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get more seeds in a packet than you
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would do uh a bag of sets. So, you'll
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get more onions for your money and it'll
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be a lot cheaper. Obviously, a packet of
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seeds will cost you about a pound or the
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sets will cost you probably about 2.99
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or 3.99, something like that. Uh you'll
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probably get about quadruple amount of
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seeds than you would do sets. So, give
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it a try. Go out and buy some seeds. And
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the best way to do it is that I get the
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seeds. I get some seed trays, put the
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compost in, sprinkle the seeds on top,
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put a layer of compost on top, water
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them, and then I put cling film on top
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of them. I always do this with all my
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seeds. It's my little gardening tip for
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doing it. Don't bother spending money on
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propagators. I use cling film and it
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works a treat. Put the cling film on top
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after you've watered it. It'll keep them
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moist, keep them warmer as well.
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Obviously, it's warm in your house on
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your flat at the moment. But the cling
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film will add an extra couple of degrees
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onto it and it will keep it moist. Save
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you watering it all the time. Obviously,
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when they start to germinate, then take
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the cling film off and then you'll have
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to keep them watered until it's time to
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fetch them down to the keep them in your
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house and your flat. Keep them warm
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until March, April time. fetch them back
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down to your plot and then it'll be
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ready to plant them out at end of March,
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April time and hopefully you'll get some
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good produce. Like if you've never grown
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seeds before, you've always stuck to
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sets. Do the experiment like I did. Yes,
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you may end up with loads of onions, but
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they'll store well in a dry place and it
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will last you ages and you'll be having
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onion soup. You'll be using onions on
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everything. But yeah, give it a try. Do
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a little experiment. See which ones grow
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best for you. Seed or set. Let me know
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in the comments if you grow seed or if
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you grow sets. I'll be great to hear
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from you all. So yeah, I hope you found
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that useful everyone. And as always
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remember, keep smiling, keep shining,
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and keep gardening with Ben, everyone.
