Growing Onions

Make homegrown onions part of your diet.  Their flavor is guaranteed to add zest to your meals and their health benefits include lowering the risk of many cancers.

Onions can be started by seed, sets or plants.  Grow your own onions from seed by starting indoors for easier sprouting or to compensate for short growing seasons.

Select the onion that best fits your taste and growing conditions.  Long day onions start developing bulbs when days are 14 to 16 hours long, perfect for the north.  Short day onions start bulbing when days are shorter making them the best choice for the south. 

And always be careful when growing onions indoors.  Long day onions should only receive 12 hours of light a day to prevent them from bulbing before they reach the garden.

Start onion seeds in clean container filled with a well drained potting or seed starting mix.  Keep the mix moist and move the plants under artificial light or in a sunny window as soon as green appears.  

A bit more information: You can also start onions from sets.  These look like miniature onions and are a common way to grow onions.  Plant these directly in the garden once the temperatures reach 48 degrees.  Onions grown from sets can be used as green onions (the bulb is immature and the greens are tender and all parts are used) or for drying.

Tags

vegetables-herbs-fruits onions

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