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I have never seemed to have much luck growing onions, but my grandfather in St. Cloud, MN (US Hardiness Zone 3) always managed a pretty good harvest. After a little research on the matter, here are some interesting points that might help us both (you and me) grow better onions. |
James Crockett (of Crockett's Victory Garden fame) suggests that onions by seed are not very reliable, they are very shallow rooted and tend to dry out and die too easily in the garden, plus they look too similar to grass weeds sprouting. He started his seeds two months early inside (he also had a greenhouse at his disposal!) His preference was to use sets (immature onion bulbs or young plants) planted directly in the garden early in the season, prior to the local end of frost date, or as soon as the ground is workable. He recommends not using set packages that have many undersized bulbs because they don't produce well, but Thalassa Cruso has written to avoid sets that are over 1/2" across because they tend to bolt to seed instead of producing a big bulb. (This seems to make sense, if the set reaches a certain size the previous year, it may think it has reached sexual maturity in its biennial-type growth cycle, and begin work on its second stage of life.) Planting is recommended at two inches apart (fairly dense) and thinned every other one as they mature. The beauty of this system is that the thinned out onions can be eaten as fresh green scallions while the remaining onions now have room to grow to be fall storage onions. Double purpose for the same garden space!
He goes on to say, however, that he does sow bunching onion seeds directly into the garden around the local end of frost date. These he thins out one month later, again eating small but tasty scallions. It's also at this end of spring frost date that he transplants those seeds he started indoors two months ago, again, spacing for future scallion thinning.
Well into the peak of summer (July or August) the onions that he planted as sets during the frost period start to mature. The tops start to turn color and wither. At this point you can knock over the growing tops of any stragglers to trigger an all-at-once harvest, or you can let them mature at their own speed for a staggered harvest. (If you stop watering a week before harvest it is said to prolong storage.) Once the entire top has turned brown and fallen over, the large onion is ready for harvest. It is also at this peak to later summer time that the bunching onions he sowed as seed is ready to be harvested as slightly swollen scallions, the tops should be about eight inches tall, but are edible at any size. (Bunching onions are said to be self-proliferating from year to year if only partially harvested.)
The onions now remaining in his garden are the transplants that he started indoors two months early and planted at the end of frost date. These will mature closer into autumn, and the later an onion matures, the better it becomes for storage into winter.
Wow, that was alot of information to wade through, it was scattered over three different portions of his book, Crockett's Victory Garden, and was difficult for me to visualize. Here's a chart I drafted to help me grasp all of it, hopefully it helps you as well...
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2 months before end of frost date | As soon as ground is workable | End of frost date | Late spring early summer | Peak to later summer | Autumn |
| Early Seeds | Start seeds indoors. | Thin indoor seedlings. |
Transplant seedlings outside. |
Thin scallions as needed. | Thin scallions as needed. | Harvest mature storage onions. |
| Sets |
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Plant sets outside. |
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Thin scallions as needed. | Start harvest of mature fresh onions. | Harvest remaining fresh onions. |
| Bunching Onions |
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Sow seed outside. | Thin tiny scallions as needed. |
Start harvest of large scallions. |
Harvest remaining onions. |
Miscellaneous Notes
The onion has been cultivated for thousands of years, the Pharoahs' Egypt having been known for the mildness of their onions (one referrence claims that ancient Greeks and Romans loved onions, but that the Egyptians never ate onions because they were considered sacred). The onion is believed to have originated in Central Asia, but because it has been cultivated for so long the true wild ancesters are unknown. Onions of various cultivars are now grown over most of the planet's surface.
The length of the day triggers the bulbing mechanism of the onion, as opposed to day and night temperature differences, limiting the number of varieties that can be grown here in the northern states (Minnesota). If we try to grow large southern varieties, they may provide us with great scallions, but never really fill out into the huge winter storage onions that are shipped into our grocery stores.
Because onions are a root crop, the soil they are grown in should be a light, fluffy, and well drained soil. It wouldn't hurt to sift the soil through a 1/4" screen to remove rocks and other large debris that would make it difficult for the onion bulb to push aside as it swells. They don't like heavy clays that retain too much water, causing them to rot too easily. Heavy amounts of sand, peat moss, or sifted compost should be added to a heavy clay soil to aid in drainage. For predominantly sandy soils, the onions would benefit from the addition of organic materials like peat moss, sifted compost, and perhaps even extra fertilizer designed for spring flowering bulbs.
The strong pungency of onions not only makes us cry when cutting them, the chemical reactions with neighboring plants can also be quite inhibiting, especially with peas and beans. Onions, and all of the onion family, may have a tendency to drastically reduce the growth and yeild of bean and pea plants. Beets, strawberries, tomatoes, and lettuce are plants that do well near onions, or even actually benefit in flavor, growth, or by the onion's pest repelling properties.
When the onions are ready for harvest (the tops have fallen over and wilted), the onions should be taken from the ground and left to lay in the garden for a couple of days to cure exposed in the sun and air. Collect them up after the initial cure, clip the tops off about an inch from the bulb, and spread them out to further cure in a shady, well ventilated shed or garage until the true cold weather moves in. (An alternative method would leave the tops on, braided together, so they can be hung to dry.) For winter storage after the onions have cured, keep them in ventilated plastic mesh bags (save onion and orange bags from earlier in the season) and hang them from a ceiling in the basement or root cellar. Check them from time to time as you use them and make sure to remove any spoilage before the entire bag is ruined. White and Bermuda onions don't store well, use as soon as possible.
Brown's Omaha Plant Farm, a retail
mail-order onion plant supplier,
recommends the following tips for growing and storage:
"For big onions, plant shallow, fertilize three times with a 10-10-10 fertilizer, and water regularly. Onion plants are hardy down to 20F and can be planted early, as soon as the ground is workable.
Storage Tips: After you harvest your onions, store them in a cool area away from direct sunlight. If possible, keep them from touching. Wrap in newspaper or use an old pair of stockings. Drop an onion in the end, tie a knot above it, then drop the next onion in, and so on."
On a curious note, there were some grocery onions in my cupboard that were well past their prime and had started sprouting. Instead of tossing them out, I planted them to see what would happen. They burst forth with new growth and quickly went into seed production. The seeds were saved, but nothing was ever done with them. Now that I have Crockett's tips on how to grow seed, I just might have to let a few more grocery onions go bad to test the seed.
Kingdom: Plantae
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Cross referenced against the National Center for Biotechnology Information's Taxonomy Browser
and the Plants Database at http://plants.usda.gov/.
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Bibliography
---Brickell, Cristopher and Judith D. Zuk, 1997, The American Horticultural Society A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants, New York: DK Publishing, Inc., ISBN 0-7894-1943-2
---Bush-Brown, Louise and James, 1996, America's Garden Book, New York: Macmillan, ISBN 0-02-860995-6
---Cave, Janet, 2000, The Time-Life Complete Gardener, Charlottesville, VA, ISBN 0-7370-0614-5
---Coombes, Allen J., 1994, Dictionary of Plant Names, Portland, OR, Timber Press, ISBN 0-88192-294-3
---Crockett, James Underwood, 1977, Crockett's Victory Garden, USA, WGBH Educational Foundation, Inc.
---Cruso, Thalassa, 1975, Making Vegetables Grow, New York, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
---Jeavons, John, 1982, How to Grow More Vegetables..., Berkeley, CA, Ten Speed Press, ISBN 0-89815-073-6 (paperbound) and 0-89815-074-4 (clothbound)
---Martin, Deborah L., 1999, 1,001 Ingenious Gardening Ideas, Emmaus, Pennsylvania: Rodale Books, ISBN 0-87596-809-0
---Rodale, J.I., 1965, The Encyclodedia of Organic Gardening, Emmaus, Pennsylvania: Rodale Books
---Steiner, Lynn M., Northern Gardener, January 2002, "All in the Family", Erika Jensen, Minnesota State Horticultural Society, Falcon Heights, MN
---Turner, R.G. Jr., 2001, Botanica, Barnes & Noble, Inc. and Random House Australia Pty Ltd, B&N ISBN 0760716420, ISBN 1566491754
