Flowering Onions - what should I do?

[Billy_Bones]

I have been growing some onions (Ailsa Craig), in the garden, they are just now starting to thicken up to form the bulbs but they have sent out strong flower shoots. I have been told that I should just dig them up and throw them away, now that they have 'set for seed'!

What should I do? Is it possible that I can still grow these on and have the bulb swell to make useable onions? If so, what should I do, please?

[WendyS]

I'm afraid it sounds as if your onions have gone to seed, possibly because of lack of moisture in this dry weather. They won't thicken up any more into nice big onions so you might as well pull them up and count your losses. You can probably chop them up and cook them but they won't keep sadly.

[Rock'n'Roll]

Or you could hopefully harvest the seed and hope for better results next year..Ideally onion sets have much less chance of bolting and need much less attention