Know and Grow Your Onions
Onions are one of the easiest vegetables to grow and a fairly necessary part of any kid’s vegetable garden. They are one of the most used vegetables in our kitchen so growing a few in our children’s vegetable garden seemed almost compulsory.
Onion Sets
We decided on the traditional white or yellow onions simply because they store better and are less prone to problems than red onions. We grew both varieties a few years ago when we had the larger vegetable garden and the red onions turned into a bit of a disaster when we had a few wet weeks towards the end of the summer, rotting away in the ground or needing eating up because they wouldn’t store.
There are two ways that you can grow onions, either from seeds or from sets. Onion Sets are simply small onions. Think of them as a starter kit for onion growers. We decided to use onion sets because they are so easy for children to plant. They can also instantly identify that the small onions that they are planting will grow into the large onions that you buy from the local supermarket.
When to Plant
Onion Sets can be planted either in the autumn or the spring although the guideline is that you would only plant them in the autumn in mild areas. Having experienced temperatures of minus 15-18 degrees centigrade for the last two winters we have decided that our onion sets will be going in the ground in spring (Mid March). We can always experiment next winter but I suspect that it may turn out to be a waste of time if we have a third harsh winter in a row.
Onion row
Onion sets are planted with the tip of the onion sticking out of the ground. A row of onions can start out looking a bit like a row of straws just poking up out of the soil. One problem with this is that the tips are very appealing to any bird that is nest building so unless you net them to keep the birds off you can expect that you and the kids will send a fair bit of time pushing them back into the ground. The birds won’t damage them but it is very annoying!
Where to Plant
Onions need a sunny site in well drained soil so a raised bed is an ideal position for them. If you are thinking about doing crop rotation, onions are best planted in a bed where you grew cabbages, brussel sprouts and brocolli last year.
This is our first year so we are planting them in with the carrots and parsnips to fit in with our crop rotation plans.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-iLC4w-6xE
Companion Planting for Onions
Onions also make great companions for carrots as the smell of the onions help to deter carrot fly so alternate rows of carrots and onions can work well. If you have the space and prefer organic solutions to garden pests think about planting some parsley in amongst your onions to help distract onion fly.
Onions planted from sets take about five months to reach maturity. Hopefully you will have a dry day or two in August when you can spread out your onions to dry before storing them. Once dry they can be plaited into the traditional string of onions and kept somewhere cool but frost free for anything up to nine months. Autumn planted sets tend to produce onions that don’t store so well.
Potential Problems
Bolting – can be fairly common where the onion throws up a thick flower stem from the centre. Simply snap this off to prevent the onion putting all its effort into producing flowers instead of an onion.
If you get mildew it is either due to ongoing wet weather or poor drainage. Simply choose a better drained bed for next years crop.
Onion fly can attack your onions leaving you with small maggots in the base of your onions. Onions grown from sets are less prone to onion fly than those grown from seed.
If you develop white rot in an onion bed unfortunately you have little choice but to give up growing onions in that bed for ten years or so. Don’t compost any that you pull up as you will simply spread the disease around the garden.
Onions are fairly easy to grow and if you look after them well can produce great results that will help build the kid’s enthusiasm for gardening, definitely worth growing in any kid’s garden.
Onions Three Weeks After Planting
We’ve decided to grow a variety called Stuttgarter Stanfield from sets. The plan is that these will keep well into the winter once harvested and stored.
This is a picture of our onions three weeks after we planted the onion sets.
All of them are now growing although we had a few that were really slow starters. It was only when we threatened to replace them that they decided to get started. Being inside the cold frame seems to have given them a head start and has stopped the birds from pulling them up
