Growing onions is easy, and they are one of the few things you can plant through winter in cooler areas.
While onions may take quite a bit of time to mature, they take very little work to grow and are a very satisfying addition to a home harvest-basket.
Here we take you through a few simple onion growing tips from the Pip garden!
Varieties
Getting the right onion variety in the ground at the right time can make a big difference to bulb size.
There are early, mid and late season varieties which refers to the sowing (and thus harvesting) time of the onions.
There are also long, short and intermediate daylight varieties to throw into the mix. These varieties require differing amounts of sunlight in order to form a bulb, so if planted in the wrong climate zone and the wrong time, they may fail to thrive.
As a general rule, short-day types are suited to Northern states (Queensland and NSW) while intermediate varieties are more suited to states further south. Your local nursery should be able to help you choose a variety that bests suits your area.
Sowing
Onions can be sown in trays and transplanted as young “sets”, or sown directly in the ground. Onions love good drainage, and detest mulch (they rot easily in the ground), so growing in small raised mounds can be a good idea.
Sowing seeds .5mm in good, free-draining potting mix (either in trays or drilled in the ground) will give them a great start. Keep your onions well weeded.
Harvest
You should harvest onions once the plants have begun to wither and dry off in summer. They should be hung and cured (like garlic) before storage.
Want to know more about growing onions?
- In Issue #11 of Pip Magazine, we feature advice on perennial onions – the onions you can plant once and then harvest for (almost) ever! You can access this article online here as part of our digital subscription offering, or subscribe to the print version of Pip Magazine here.
- In Issue #12 of Pip Magazine, we show you how to save onion seeds. You can access this article online here as part of our digital subscription offering, or subscribe to the print version of Pip Magazine here.
- And in Issue #23 of Pip Magazine, we bring you a guide to growing alliums. You can access this article online here as part of our digital subscription offering, or subscribe to the print version of Pip Magazine here.
