Onions

[trion]

I had some organic onions from the store that decided my kitchen counter was a good place to grow Rather then just throw them in the compost I put them in a corner of the garden to see what would happen. They seem very happy. They have all continued to grow. I am in zone 5 and planted them in mid-April. What do I do now? Will they eventually die? Will I eventually get new onions? How will I tell? Thanks!

 

[curly_kate]

I'm kind of a newbie with onions, but I would guess they'd just keep growing. They seem to push out of the ground when they're ready. Onions are pretty low-maintenance, so you can just keep watering them & see what happens.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I'm not sure what you will get. You should be able to use the onion as a green onion if you wish. It might bulb up, but I'd guess it is most likely to bolt to seed. You can always wait and see what happens. It hasn't cost you anything but a little time.

 

[digitS']

These were storage onions - right? Now you know that your kitchen counter isn't such a good place for storing yellow onions and even worse for sweets .

Onions are biennials so if they were grown last year, this year they will make seeds. You can save and plant those seeds next year.


Steve

 

[trion]

OK so if they make seeds - what do I do? When do I dig them up? etc etc.

 

[digitS']

These folks have a lot of fun growing plants from seed.

The webpage also gives you links on saving onion seed along with some easy advice.

Wintersown.org

Steve

 

[trion]

Thanks!

 

[big brown horse]

You know they are ready when the green tops begin to wither and turn brown. Usually you do see the bulb buldging out of the ground a bit too.