​Varieties We Grow

We're lazy about onions: we grow Red and Spanish ones from sets, not seed. Well... we've got so many other veggies to grow & seedlings to tend; and sets mature in 60-70 days, so we can get two crops harvested and stored by fall. Since sets have been pretty much problem-free for us, why push the river? Every year we harvest lots o' onions.

 

Our family uses up the Reds pretty fast, raw in salads and salsas. We tend to grow more Spanish onions than Reds; and even though we cook with Spanish onions most every day, they still last us right through the Christmas season.

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Sometimes our neighbours give us onion seedlings in exchange for kale or broccoli ones. Last year a fellow gardener gave us some Multiplier onions (also called potato onions). What a terrific vegetable! You can cut the green tops as they grow to use in salad and the tops just keep growing. Plus you get multiple, flavorful bulbs when you harvest— just like shallots.

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​Getting Started

Onions thrive in full sun in soil that's fine-textured, well-drained and compost enriched. In the fall you can sow a green manure, like fall rye, in the area of your garden where you want to grow onions. Dig in the fall rye as soon as the soil can be worked in late winter/early spring. If you don't want to do this, mix in lots of finished compost and/or composted manure to your onion bed in preparation for planting.

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In the Metro Vancouver area, you can plant your onion sets (little bulbs) in mid March-early April, as long as the winter water-logged soil has dried out enough. Plant your sets about 15 cm (6 inches) apart in little holes about 8 cm (3 inches) deep that you've scooped out with your equally little trowel.

 

Leave at least 30 cm (1 foot) between rows so you can weed efficiently when necessary. Onions have very shallow roots and get easily overwhelmed by weeds, so weed your growing onion bed diligently.

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​Caring for Your Onions

Keep the soil around your onion seedlings moist but not wet. As they get established, give your onions 3 cm (1inch) of water once a week— and water the roots, not the stems. Morning is best for watering, in general.

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When the onions are about 15 cm (6 inches high) you can mulch around them to keep out weeds and add organic matter to the soil.

 

Oh yes, and try not to walk on the soil between the rows of root crops. In fact, try not to walk on your soil— period. Stomping on the soil compacts it, making root growth more difficult for your plants. Now you don't have to learn to levitate or cultivate your crops from a helicopter. Just lay boards between plant rows and walk, stand or kneel on them. They 'spread out your weight' over a larger surface area, making the pressure per square cm (inch) you exert on the soil much less than when you stand— let alone walk, stomp and fall to your knees— in the dirt. ​

 

And you can turn the boards over in the morning, destroy the slugs you find there and dig their nutritious remains back into the soil. (See our Slugs article for more on this subject).

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Harvesting Your Onions

Onions are ready to harvest when their stems flop over & dry out. You can give onions a little hurry-up by bending the stems over when they've turned yellow. The plant will then direct more of its energy to the developing bulb. When the stems are thoroughly dried out, pull up your onions and lay them out in the sun to cure for a day. When the outer skins are really dry, you can cut the tops off, leaving a 3 or 4 inch stub of stem. If you cut the stem off too close to the onion bulb, your onion may rot.

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Storing Your Onions

Keep them in a cool dry spot and they should last for a year. But they won't because you'll devour them long before their maximum storage time is up.

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