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.
In the spring they’ll come back and you’ll be able to harvest some very early scallions. Again,
Be sure to leave plenty of plants in the row. These will go to seed before too long. When they do, don’t do anything except admire the beautiful blossoms and watch the bees work them. You want the plants to reseed the row. A whole new group of onions will start to grow. They’ll winter over and send up early greentails the next spring. They’re about the very first thing you can eat from your garden. You can pull some from the bed anytime, but you’ll find that the first handfuls in early spring have the best flavor.
Secrets of growing giant sweet onions
Everybody loves those juicy, sweet slicing onions for hamburgers and salads. Let me tell you the secrets of growing the big ones.
I recommend growing or buying transplants. This means that you can get an early start in your garden when the weather is cool and when onions grow so well. The more cool-weather growth your plants can muster, the larger your onions will be at harvest time.
I grow a tasty variety, such as White Sweet Spanish, and give them a long hardening-off period before planting. It takes 2 weeks to get them adjusted to outdoor weather. Most folks say that you shouldn’t set out your plants until after the last frost, but I disagree. If you harden them off well, they should do fine planted 2 or 3 weeks before the last frost date.
The best transplant is as tall and thick as a pencil, but don’t toss out the small guys. Find a place for them in the row, and you’ll be surprised at how big they get by the end of the season.
Transplanting onions is easy. Place the plant on your index finger, and push your finger and the onion into the soil about 2 inches. Lift up just a bit (this gets the roots headed in the right direction) and firm the soil around the plant.
If you buy onion plants from a mail order company, unwrap them as soon as they arrive. Stick their roots in water in a shallow pan and plant them as soon as you can. If you can’t plant them immediately, unwrap them, put them in plastic bags, and store them in the refrigerator for a day or two. You can also heel them in the garden and move them later.
To get big onions it’s important to side-dress the crop at least three or four times. Use a balanced fertilizer such as 10-10-10; for at least one side-dressing add a little bone meal or superphosphate to give the expanding bulbs extra phosphorus.
Onions need extra fertilizer
No matter what you plant—sets, seeds, or plants— onions should get some extra fertilizer when they are 6 to 8 inches high, and then again 3 or 4 weeks later. A couple of side- dressings will give you a crop to be proud of.
Use dehydrated manure to fertilizer onions. Sprinkle it liberally over the wide rows. If you use 5-10-10, get your hand close to the ground and spread the fertilizer around the bulbs. If the fertilizer contacts the bulbs, it won’t hurt them at all, but it can sting the green tops. That’s why I don’t broadcast it like dehydrated manure.
Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)
Plant once for Everlasting Bunching Onions
- Fertilize your Garden Plants, three ways to apply Side-Dressing
- Plant Side-Dressing Guide
- Green Fingers for Colorful Small Garden Planner (Garden Plants and Containers)
- Vegetable Garden Planting Vine Crops (Soil, Sowing, Fertilizer, Watering and harvest)
- Making Precious Composting Count
- Green Garden Seeding and Sowing, How to Do It
- Growing Under Glass continue...
- The Vegetable Box
- Green Fingers for Colorful Small Garden Planner (Garden Tools & Preparation)
- Green Fingers for Colorful Small Garden Planner (Garden Tools & Preparation)
Easy to grow and undemanding, "Perfume Deep Purple" seed and plants will be available this spring in seed racks, catalogs and at garden retailers. … Attention Avid Gardeners
The planter is made out of durable UV resistant polyethylene that will not melt in heat or crack in cold, so you can stack three planters on top of each other. … Healthy Soil
Each plant or bed should be saturated about once every two weeks or less depending on the weather. … Plant Sets
If you provide proper care but the plant fails to thrive, we will replace it or issue a refund within 30 days for plants or 9 months for bulbs and seeds. … Planting Bulbs