onions

[headfullofbees]

I've grown a few "Kelsae" onions for fun, and I was surprised at how good they tasted.
They weren't as big as in the photo, (about 2 1/2lb, 1.1-1.2kg) but I didn't mollycoddle quite as much as show growers do.

 

[ChanellG]

I wish I could grow onions at home since I use them in cooking daily. I actually use onions when I'm cooking breakfast sometimes. I like to sautee them in oil without salt - they are so sweet when you almost carmelize them. I just need way more of them than I have room to grow, lol.

 

[zigs]

You'd be better off buying a sack from the wholesalers Chanell. You do need a fair amount to supply the kitchen all year round.

Have you got room for a row of Spring Onions?

 

[ChanellG]

Not really, but at least I can do those in big pots. I discovered a few of what were either onions or garlic in the compost a while back and potted them up, so I'll see what develops. I've tried starting new onions from the bottoms of old ones a few times, but I never get that far with it. I need to redesign my plan for growing things - have to scale back for a while.

 

[MindyT]

I have never grown onions. I don't know why. I like them. Are they easy to plant and grow?

 

[zigs]

They're not too tricky, you can grow from seed or sets. Sets are immature bulbs that have been stopped by temperature control, easy to plant as they are of a size where you can space them correctly as you plant.

Then you have to plant them again the next day after the birds have pulled them out to see what they are

 

[MindyT]

I have seen the sets in packages and in containers, but I have never personally grown any. I would rather do it this way than from seed. It sounds more attainable. I just have to shoo away the birds!

 

[headfullofbees]

I have never grown onions. I don't know why. I like them. Are they easy to plant and grow?

You have to follow a few basic rules to prevent them from running to seed, and soil preparation is necessary, but not complex or overly labour-intensive, but they're easy enough.

 

[headfullofbees]

I have seen the sets in packages and in containers, but I have never personally grown any. I would rather do it this way than from seed. It sounds more attainable. I just have to shoo away the birds!

Although they take more looking after when you grow them from seed, the results are usually better, in my experience.

 

[Kansas Terri]

I made a solid block of my onions by planting sets on a grid pattern, 2-3 inches apart. That spacing would be too close for large onions, but mine rarely get more than 2-3 inches across.

Growing onions from sets is very easy: you just poke each set in the ground and keep it weeded and watered. Onions love damp, cool weather, but our summers are hot and sunny, which makes them grow more slowly.

Onions are also heavy feeders, but that is not a problem for us in Kansas as the soil is pretty good: an application of fertilizer or compost makes them very happy! The soil is too heavy where I live for getting big onions, but compost helps with that also. And, if you get a flower stalk you MUST cut it off or all of the plant's strength will go to the flower and then to the seeds! Instead of a nice onion you will get something that is itty-bitty and fibrous. I know this from experience: remove the flower stalk when you see one!

I have never had much luck with onion seeds, so someone else should probably talk about that.

 

[headfullofbees]

Home made onion rings are incredibly good. Nobody else in my family eats raw onions, not even on hamburgers, but EVERYBODY seems to love home made onion rings!

Every spring I have the option to plant onions that are labeled yellow, white, or red. In America the variety of the onion is not much talked about, unless it is the Vidalia onion which is famous for being mild.

The seed companies often list the names of the varieties, but I have never had much luck in growing onions from seeds and so each spring I head for the bins that are labeled "yellow", "white", and "red" to buy that years onion sets!

Don't be coy, have you any particular techniques you use when making them that you'd like to share?
I'm sure many of us (include me IN) love onion rings.

 

[headfullofbees]

I grew a bit disillusioned when a number of my onion sets kept running to seed year-after-year, despite meticulously following the pack instructions, so, about three years ago, I thought I'd try mixing in some seed grown.
So I bought "Stuttgarter Giant" sets, and a pack of Bedfordshire Champion seeds.
Using seeds definitely took up more space, and was more labour intensive, but there was no doubt which yielded better for me: not only did my Bed C onions not bolt, but they gave me bigger, stronger tastier onions than the sets.

Now some of this may be confirmation bias, but there definitely WAS enough difference to convince me:
use seeds, do the work, get bigger, better onions.

Now I plant at three inch spacing, but I thin out at the end of May, beginning of June, for some nice big cyboes.

 

[Kansas Terri]

Don't be coy, have you any particular techniques you use when making them that you'd like to share?
I'm sure many of us (include me IN) love onion rings.

If I remembered the recipe I used I would definitely share it! But, each time I just looked up a recipe on-line. They all seem pretty similar.

I remember that the batter had flour, baking powder, and an egg but I do not remember if I used milk or water, or how much of anything! And, surely salt must have been involved????

I simply do not remember!

 

[Kiese]

I've actually never grown onions are they as easy to grow as people say?

 

[Kansas Terri]

Well, the onion sets are dead easy, but the happier the onions are the larger the bulbs get. My onions are apparently not very happy! The onions that are left in the garden usually come up again the next year.

I have not had much luck with seeds, but I intend to try again next year. One GREAT thing about onions is that they take up so little room: instead of planting my onions in a row I plant an onion patch that is about a foot wide, and as long as I need to get all of the sets in.