December 21, 2024 – Onions are a fun crop to grow, requiring minimal soil preparation and very little maintenance. They tolerate most soils and transplant extremely well. They have a history possibly exceeding 5,000 years, so they’ve been around awhile, and it’s hard to imagine many foods without them. There are many varieties, and new varieties seemed to be in continual development.
Typical varieties include yellow, white and purple (red). Vedalias are considered tops, but are more expensive and seldom available for transplanting. They usually have to be grown from seed. Your local nurseries and/or hardware stores will usually have several varieties for transplanting around 15 January. Buy what you need and immediately get them in the ground.
Planting onion seeds should have already been accomplished by now, and few of us plant onion bulbs, so let’s looks at transplants. There are numerous onion sets sold in your areas, and all are good, so the choice is yours. For soil, Onions are heavy feeders, so good soil is preferred. For best results in poor soil, amend it with quality compost and add a little slow-release fertilizer. You can grow onions in your garden or almost anywhere they get plenty of sun. They’re great companion plans for tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, carrots, cabbages & flowers, but should never be grown with peas, beans, asparagus, garlic, shallots or leeks.
Onions do better in raised beds, so simply space transplants 4” apart and 1” deep. You can go deeper, but final bulb sizes seem to be smaller. Seedling bulb size when transplanting is NOT an indication of the final bulb size. For a planting example, put a pin where a tomato plant will be located in May. Then, press the tomato cage in the soil. The plant and cage are now known, so put the transplants everywhere else!!!
