How to Choose Onion Varieties for Planting

There are a number of onion types that come in white, yellow and red. Size-wise, they can range from tiny pickling onions to large Spanish cultivars. They can be shaped like a globe, a top or a spindle. It's said that the sweetest varieties are flatter, or rather like an oval with the stem on top. According to Rodale's Organic Life, onion varieties include a perennial bunching type of scallions, called Allium fistulosum, that are practically disease free and insect proof.

And a "multiplier" potato onion from the A. cepa Aggregatum group develops a bulb cluster, so every time you harvest them, you have bulbs to replant for a virtually limitless supply. When you get your onion transplants, try to get them into the ground as quickly as possible. If you can't plant due to rain or whatever, spread them out in a cool, dry area. If they start drying out, it's fine; as members of the lily family of plants, they'll live another three weeks. Once planted, they shoot new roots almost immediately.

When planting sets, you have to push the flatter side down into damp soil. Push until the pointed part of the top is showing and 4 or 5 inches apart. Plant as soon as the ground can be worked, and try to make sure the temperature doesn't fall below 20 degrees F. Rows can be planted as close as 12 inches apart or as far apart as 18 inches. Again, planting too deep keeps onions from forming large bulbs.

Always water immediately after planting, and keep them relatively damp as harvest time gets closer. In between, careful weeding so that foreign plants that are stronger don't choke out what you're trying to grow, especially when plants are young, is important. It may be extremely tempting to put dirt on top of forming onion bulbs, but don't! When you see onion bulbs that appear to be lying there, lifeless, remember that their roots are still underground getting the nutrients they need.

You'll know bulb onions are ready when their tops fall over. It's a natural indication that they're fully mature. Then, pull them up, allow them to dry, separately, clip the roots and cut all but about an inch off the tops. Keep them cool and dry for storage. More pungent onions store longer; sweeter onions need to be used up sooner.

Article Source: mercola.com
 

Guide for Growing Onions at Home

If you ever find yourself in the kitchen wondering what to dream up for dinner, you know how often onions play at least a supporting role in the final presentation. Chopped in salads, sautéed with bell peppers or emanating their savory essence in soups and casseroles, the versatility of onions makes cooking less of a chore and more of an adventure.

But that could also be said of growing onions, whether you want to grow sweet onions, red onions, leeks, shallots, chives or scallions (aka green onions). Because they're a cool-weather crop, they can be sown indoors in early spring or planted outdoors and covered with about a quarter inch of soil. It's amazing how quickly they sprout; you should see their green sprouts emerging from the ground in seven to 10 days.

Onions, says master gardener Brandon Marshall, can be grown from seed, sets or transplants. Here's an interesting tip: Round onion sets will produce a flattened onion, while a tear-shaped or elongated onion produce a round onion, Marshall says. Ironically, large sets grow green onions while the smaller ones are left in the ground to form bulbs. Rodale's Organic Life explains the differences:

Transplants are pencil-sized seedlings started in the current growing season. They're sold in bunches, usually through nurseries and mail order. They form bulbs quickly — 65 days or so — but are more susceptible to disease, and the cultivars are limited.

These should go into the ground four to six weeks before the last hard freeze of the spring (which even for veterans can be difficult to determine). Try mounding up loose soil and inserting no more than an inch of the bulb itself, which may leave several more inches above the ground.

Sets, with an even more limited list of available cultivars, are dry, immature bulbs grown the year before. They're easier to plant, earliest to harvest and least prone to disease. The downside is a tendency to bolt, i.e., flower prematurely. A pound of onion sets produces about 50 feet in a row.

Onion sets are often identified only as white or yellow rather than a specific cultivar name, which makes variety identification a bit of a mystery unless you know what they are and where they came from. Half-inch-long bulb sets are least likely to bolt. Once an onion bolts or flowers, use it first and as soon as possible, because the green flower stalk that emerges through the center of the bulb prevents storage for more than a week or two.

 Seeds usually have the widest variety availability; however, the growing time, obviously, increases to about four months to maturity, so especially in the coldest growing zones, you can start plants indoors under grow lights or cold frames (in which case they can be planted even earlier) to get the most out of your season.

When the seedlings are 2 or 3 inches tall, you can begin moving them to the transplanting stage by first hardening them off — getting them used to outdoor temperatures — by exposing them on a back porch or otherwise "in between" area, gradually.

Article Source: mercola.com