Onion, from seedling to harvest

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Beneath leaves that can rise 30 to 40 inches, the onion (Allium cepa) swells into a bulb that may be yellow, white or red, the red one distinctly sweeter than the rest. Give it light, drained soil in full sun and no fertiliser at all, and this ancient bulb crop all but grows itself.

From planting or preparing seedlings all the way to the harvest, you can’t fail in growing them.

• Health: health benefits of onion (especially cancer)

Sowing and planting onion

There are two options for you to start growing onions: sowing from seed, or planting small bulbs.

In this case, planting small onion bulbs for them to grow is the most successful of the two, and the simplest to quickly produce beautiful onions.

Sowing onion from seed:

• Sow seeds in a nursery at the end of winter until the beginning of spring. Sowing can take place from February to April. After that, transplant the tiny bulbs to the ground when they’re as thick a your thumb.

Planting small onion bulbs:

• Plant store-bought small onion bulbs at the same time, remembering to bury the bulb about 3 times as deep as the bulb is high. Spacing should be around 4 to 8 inches (10 to 15 cm).
• Check for white butterfly eggs from time to time, since removing them will keep caterpillars from appearing.

Video tutorial for growing onion:

Onion care

As the season comes along, there’s nothing to do but wait: onions know how to take care of themselves!

It helps to provide it with mulch (lawn trimmings are great), so that moisture can stay locked in and the soil remains cooler. Also, mulch increases microbial life in the area underneath, which in turn makes soil much softer.

In hard, dry soil, onion will still manage to grow, but if the soil is softer, it’ll grow faster and fatter. And it will be much easier to pull out when harvest time comes along!

Harvesting onion

Summer varieties

White onions can be harvested earlier, usually in May because they must be harvested before reaching full maturity.

Simply pull them out whenever you need a few, or you can wait until they mature.

If harvested when mature, you’ll have to cure the onions for a couple days. Pull them out and let them dry in the sun while keeping moisture away. Also, store them in a dry and well-ventilated spot.

Summer onions are often eaten raw in salads or to spice a marinade.

Winter cultivars

In the case of winter varieties, pull onions out once leaves have yellowed and dried, and, just like the summer varieties, let them cure or dry out in the sun for a few days.

Store away from moisture for as long as you wish, in a cool and ventilated spot.

White, red or yellow: which onion to grow

All three are grown in exactly the same way, but they are not used in the same way. Pick according to what you want on the plate.

Organise your planting and you can have onions all year round.

All there is to know about onion

Usually yellow onions are the ones most commonly eaten, but onions can also be white or red.

The taste differs slightly in each case, red onion being sweeter. Correspondingly, this makes red onion perfect for onion jam or salads. White onion is great for preserves.

Yellow onion is used in most onion-based dishes.

There are lots of types of onion:

• welsh onion
• tree onion
• ornamental onion

And it’s possible to organize your planting so you can have onions all year round!

• Onions with thick, soft necks will not keep, so eat those first.
• If a flower stalk pushes up from the centre, snap it off and set that bulb aside for the kitchen because bolted onions store badly.
• Keep the bed weeded, since the onion’s few shallow roots are easily outcompeted and the bulbs stay small as a result.