Onions

Onions are an excellent crop to grow in your garden, as they can be used to enhance the flavor of many different dishes.

Onions grow best on sandy, medium loam, but they can be raised on most types of soil, even clay soil, as long as it is prepared well.

You can plant onions at two different times during the year.

The seeds of autumn sown onions are sown near the end of summer, and the plants are transplanted at the beginning of spring.

Some autumn sown onions are pulled for bunching in the spring, rather than transplanted. These onions are known as scallions, spring onions, salad onions or bunching onions.

Spring sown onions grow from seeds that are sown in the spring. After spring sown onions are harvested, they can be stored and then used in the winter and the following spring.

Autumn Sown Onions

The land on which autumn sown onions are to be grown should be plowed or dug lightly after the previous crop has been cleared. Do not plow too deeply. You may have to roll and harrow the soil after plowing, in order to break up the clods.

You can apply poultry manure, soot or a combination of potassium sulfate and superphosphate to the soil.

Seeds should be sown in rows that are 10 inches apart.

Onions that are to be harvested when they are ripe should be thinned so that they are 6 inches apart within the rows.

Scallions should not be thinned. Pull them up as needed.

Spring Sown Onions

Spring sown onions must be sown on soil that is well-drained and ploughed 8 to 10 inches deep.

You can apply farmyard manure when the land is being plowed.

The seedbed should be fine but firm.

If you plow early in September, leave the land rough so frost can act upon it. This makes it easier to harrow down the land to prepare the seedbed. It is a good idea to roll the soil after harrowing it.

You can sow the seeds around the middle of February, in rows that are about 10 inches apart.

Potassium sulfate and superphosphate can be added to the soil a few weeks before sowing the seeds.

During April, the seeds should be thinned to about 6 inches apart.

You can add sodium nitrate or ammonium sulfate to the soil early in July.

At the end of September or the beginning of October, the onions should be ready for harvesting.

The bulbs should be left on the ground to ripen in the sun for two weeks.

Then, the tops should be twisted off the onions and the onions should be taken inside to be stored.

Onion seeds can also be sown in January. The seeds should be placed in heated frames or glass houses. You can start transplanting the onion plants outside in the beginning of April.