Tag Archives: egyptian walking onion

Walk on

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The Egyptian Walking Onions arrived this morning and now have gone into the ground post-Storm Dudley and pre-Storm Eunice. The plants were well packaged and arrived in a well healthy condition and we even got a bonus sprouting lower bulb as well.

A couple were put in the raised beds which have a top made out of a wooden frame with some plastic over the top. The other one was put into a tub with a glass jar pushed in the compost a good bit for protection. Even though the plants are well hardy we’re taking no chances. We’ll keep you posted on these horticultural oddities! #egyptianwalkingonions

Back to our old ways

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Years ago we were fascinated by the strange looking Egyptian Walking Onion plant and the great (and official may we add) website of the plant here which has a UFO/”Out there” quality to it that makes us smile.

It’s been a few years since any Walking Onions have surfaced in our garden so we’ve just bought a couple of plants on ebay and hope this summer to have a few of the onions “walking” across our vegetable beds. Have a look online about the plant and see if you fancy having a go too. They are very odd looking and are a bit of a talking point (and possibly you may be able to get in touch with alien beings judging by the graphics on the official site but we cannot guarantee that what with COVID). We’ll keep you updated on the plants as soon as they come in. EWO’s are the next big thing we’ve just been told!

Is there anybody out there?

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The bed at the bottom of the garden is always a bit of a problem as it only gets sunlight in the late afternoon. At the present moment the nasturtiums have taken over and so has the borage behind them. We haven’t had a hard frost yet so it’s looking a little wild to say the least!

If you can remember we were going to “rest” the bed and fill it with the Thompson and Morgan Beneficial Flower seeds mix then COVID 19 came along. We were so fed up that one of the local shops had a 3 potato per person rule we put in a couple of rows of spuds plus some onions and broad beans there (see the  bed in July here). After they were harvested in mid-August we gave the bed a good tidy up (here) and boy has it grown since!

The state of play at the moment is a Globe Artichoke root (1) we did a swap with a mate at a local community garden (for some Egyptian walking onion bulbs) is now starting to grow and the brilliant cardoons (2 and 3) we bought at Shannon’s a few years ago have starting sprouting again. Talk about value for money! And in the middle of the crazy nasturtiums are a couple of rows of autumn sown broad beans (4). When will the growing ever end?

Giving it all away

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A great thing about gardening is the passing on of stuff (whether it be it seeds, tools or plants) from one gardener to another. We don’t “give to receive” but there’s something nice about imparting something and then weeks later you get given something from someone totally unrelated. A Zen mate of ours told us this was “the universe rearranging itself”.

This week the universe has been on the rearrangement tip as the other day while going through the bag we take to work we found a folded piece of loo roll with a peg on it. “What the?” we thought as we began to unravel the mystery packet (above: packet with foxglove and lily seeds). Then we remembered a friend had given us some foxglove seeds.

On Thursday we had a workmate kindly pass on some lily seed heads (we’ve never grown lilies from seed before so any advice appreciated!) and last night a Tai Chi classmate brought in these well-healthy foxglove seedlings (below) which went in today. It now looks like we need to repay the universe for this week’s gifts. Anyone fancy some Egyptian onion sets?

 

Walk tall…

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Jims walking onionsA big shout to our good mate Jim N for this pic (above) of his egyptian walking onion (aka tree, topsetting, walking or winter onion) that’s now starting to “travel,” great stuff!

As you know we love a plant that’s a bit “out there,” and we do love the weird and wonderful world of the egyptian onion (below) and especially this website here. Egyptian Walking Onion + UFO

As it says on there “The ancient Egyptians worshipped onions. They believed that its spherical shape and concentric rings symbolized eternal life. Small onions were found in the eye sockets of Ramesses IV… The name “Walking Onion” was given to this plant because it literally walks to new locations. When the cluster of topsets becomes heavy enough, it will pull the plant over to the ground. These plants can walk between 1 and 3 feet per year!” An absolutely bonkers plant and as you know, bonkers is good!