Onions

SallyForth_2

Hello,

I wondered if someone could explain the logic behind growing onions. With other, you sew seeds, they grow into plants and you harvest the leaves/roots/fruit/flowers or whatever it may be. But with onions, you can either sew seeds which seems normal enough or you can plant an onion to grow err, an onion? I don't understand that at all :cool: what's going on?

zarazara

onions can be grown from seeds,but you need longer,ie start the seed off earlier indoors. You plant a little onion "set" and it grows into a big onion,ready to eat the autumn of the planting year. If you leave a few to go to seed you wil get thousands of seeds and need never buy any onions again.

SallyForth_2

Thanks for that Zarazara, so unless you are looking to get seed, there is little point in sticking that onion you found in the bottom of the fridge, which has sprouted shoots or indeed any rather sorry looking onion sets you found in the shed which have sprouted in the ground.

ginvzt

You can get two or three onions growing from one onion - it depends how many 'hearts' it has. Have you noticed that sometimes when you cut onion, it has more than one 'centre'? Each of those centres grow into separate onion.

I planted some shallots this spring, and from each 'set', there are at least 3 growing (you can see by the leaves how they are grouped.

Kay_Peel

I'm like you, Sally. I wonder why people buy little trays of 6 onions - just to grow bigger onions. What's the point, unless you want to grow massive Exhibition monstrosities that a normal family wouldn't be able to eat?

I prefer to grow lines of them from seeds, every couple of weeks. I pick out little salad onions throughout the season and I leave a good proportion to grow to a medium size, which I then store by hanging them in the garage, to eat through the winter.

Orange_King

I have tried seeds for a couple of years with little success - a few come to the size of marbles and thats it. So, this year I have gone for the shallots and hope to get a better return. The seeds have still been put in so anything from them will be a bonus.

forgotmyname

My shallots tasted the same as my onions last year? Maybe slightly hotter.

Whats the difference?

Bag of onions from the £1 shop same brand as the £2.99 ones in the garden centre, Red ones did not do as well though.

Noticed this year they are a bit lighter, Still a lot cheaper than the garden centre though.

Farway

forgotmyname wrote: »

My shallots tasted the same as my onions last year? Maybe slightly hotter.

Whats the difference?

.

Shallots make multiple bulbs, which are normally smaller, and useful to use whole in things like stew, onions are just one large bulb

Shallots are always dear in supermarkets, no doubt viewed as "premium" like vine tomatoes

forgotmyname

Of course i knew that. LOL

I shall sit in the corner facing the wall now, carry on.

Memory does strange things as i get older, I forget what though.