Nine years ago I planted one packet of white bunching onion seeds, and I’m still eating from the row. Each year I get the tastiest, earliest scallions you can imagine. I don’t do a thing all season except pull a few weeds now and then.

It’s important to plant a “bunching” onion variety because these onions will not form a bulb. The bottoms stay thin all year long. Plant them where you won’t be tilling, such as next door to a perennial planting. I have mine near my black raspberries.

Plant the seeds thickly in early spring. Thin them a little with a rake when they come up, then let them grow. Harvest some of them when the stems are as big as a pencil, but leave plenty alone. Let them go right into the fall and winter. Don’t mulch them—they don’t need it. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s easy to grow a lot of them in wide rows. And their flavors— from the strong yellow keeping onions to the subtle shallots—go with almost everything. How can you cook without them?

Onions, garlic, and shallots will store for many months, and you don’t need a root cellar either. Leeks won’t hold out like the others but they can be kept in my “perennial patch” in the garden or for a week or two in the refrigerator. The onion family is with us 12 months a year. Jan and I never have to buy any.

There are lots of fun ways to grow these crops in the garden. How about a multiplying shallot patch so you never have to buy expensive shallots again? Or a no-work “Eternal Yield” square of bunching onions to get the earliest scallions every spring? Or a big row of giant sweet onions? Read the rest of this entry »

Pull your storage onions when the plants are dead. The tops will lose their green color, turn brown, and start to wither. That’s the time they should be harvested. Don’t let them stay in the ground once they are dead.

A warm, sunny day is ideal for pulling onions. Leave them bottom side up in the garden for 2 or 3 days until they are dry.

Keep roots away from the ground. The drying kills the roots—they look like little brittle wires. When thoroughly dry, they’ll break off easily with a swipe of your hand. Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve never had as much fun and satisfaction growing onions as I have since I began using home-grown sets. I grow about 45 pounds of sets each year in an area 3 feet by 5 feet and it takes only 1 ounce of seeds. The seeds cost about $3, but the sets I get are worth 20 times that!

You probably can’t use 45 pounds of sets in your garden, of course, but I bet you have neighbors and friends who would gladly buy some from you in the spring.

Here’s how I get such a big, money-saving harvest from a 3- by 5-foot area: Read the rest of this entry »