onions
What Season
Spring planting for summer crops
Spring planting for summer crops
Planting in late summer for autumn
Onions will bolt in hot weather and cold weather. The trick is to dodge both as they can always be dried and stored.
Onions are often grown from onion sets which are mini onion bulbs. These are basically onions grown from seed then harvested and dried for fast growing later on.
If you want to save onion seeds, pick a few successful onions and leave them to bolt and go to flower.
Once the flowers have produced seeds, cut away the flower heads and put them into a container and shake them.
This should release the seed from the husk. Store in a cool dark place.
Sowing
Sow it were you grow it!
Onions like to grow in poor soil but will grow in anything.
Onions prefer slightly acidic soil so if you’re buying a bag of soil specifically for the job check the Ph score on the back, around 5-6 is good for onions.
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You can grow onions from seed or from onion sets. Onion sets are basically mini onions or onion bulbs. You buy them in bulbs and literally just plant them, water them as you plant them and keep an eye to make sure they’re happy. Sow your seeds 3x the depth of the seed into small pots, seed trays, or small modules. After the seeds have grown to 5 inches, chop them back to 2 inches. (This promotes a strong crop). Now leave them to regrow. Once they’ve regrown a few centimetres and have at least 3 leaves they should be sturdy enough to plant out. Plant them out around 15 cm apart.
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You can simply pull onions out of the ground they are only held in by a few thin roots. Trim the roots and cut the stalk off The onions you buy from supermarkets have been trimmed and dried. If you trim them and dry them in the sun or in a dry space where they have good airflow they can then be stored for months after.
