A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2005 ???Onions???

Hi!

I have a big open space in my garden after harvesting carrots and my 3rd harvest of radish. I was thinking of planting onions for the winter in the extra space.

I've never tried it before but why not? Anyone know how to grow em?

Thanks!
Veggie-T

Onions in winter? you must be in a warm climate, but i grow onion every year. I buy onion sets, there small little onions that you plant with the point up like a bulb. Very easy to grow i plant the red onion varity in two to three months I have great big juicy Red Onions. Give it a try you'll be glad you did.

Where would you get the red onions? how do you start them? I love those kind, I just got some small onions from a friends garden that had been there before she moved in so not sure what kind they are but, when is the best time to plant them and how???? I live in mass. zone 5 thanks

I buy them at the local garden center, they come in a small bag with about 50 small onions about the size of a marble, or maybe a little bigger. As soon as you can get in the garden in spring you plant the sets (as there called)then in about 120 days you can start to harvest. I bet you could buy them in one of the various seed catalogs as well. But they are quite easy to grow and delicious. Im told as the days get shorter in summer onions slow down getting larger as the days get longer in fall they grow quite quickly. I live in Michigan and they grow great.

Territorial seed Company sent a nice fall catalog with ideas for winter crops. Go to their website for winter growing stuff. I wanted to do a whole bunch of stuff but have no room. Territorial website

Johnny's Selected seeds has several onion varieties suitable for August planting. Buffalo, Olympic, and Walla Walla. Last week I planted Olympic and Walla Walla seeds and am also trying Ailsa Craig which didn't survive last winter. (It got down to -5 degrees) The others are supposedly hardy to -10 degrees although I use row covers as added protection. The onions will grow larger and sweeter than if you waited to plant till spring. Some of my Walla Wallas were bigger than softballs.

I had been planting Buffalo with good results, but it wasn't in the catalog this year although I see now it is still listed in their online catolog.

Not all onions work well planted in the fall. Some aren't hardy at such a low temperature and others (like the Copra I also planted last fall) think they are entering their second growing season in spring and as a result will send up flower stalks.

www.johnnyseeds.com

Another idea is to plant multiplier onions--also called potato onions. I planted on October 11 last year. I plant 60 to 70 small sets which will result in 3-4 inch onions at maturity and a dozen larger onions which will split into many smaller sets next summer. Once you get these going, you may never have to buy sets again.

Southern Exposure seed Exchange has the potato onions as well as shallots and numerous varieties of garlic which are also planted in the fall.

www.southernexposure.com