How to Grow Onions

Growing Onions in your Garden

My Onions in the Garden

You can grow onions from seeds, plants or sets. Sets are easiest, quicker and less likely to get diseased. Onions take up a bit of room in the garden but if you use them a lot in cooking then they are the ideal crop to grow.  
The taste of your own fresh onions from the garden is well worth it. They are a very easy crop to grow, take care of and harvest. So they are a very good vegetable for first time gardeners.

Onion  Sets

How to Plant Onion Sets in the Garden

• Buy the onion sets from your local garden centre or store.

• You should plant the onion sets in the spring. 

• If the beginning of March is warm then do it then but if we have another very cold spring like last year leave until the end of march.

Onion Sets Ready to be Planted

How to Plant Onions

• Use a very sunny well drained part of the garden if possible.

• Prepare the bed by digging a trench about 2 inches deep.

• Water the trench

• Place the onions with the stem pointing upwards into the trench.It is important that they are planted at least 5 inches apart.

• Cover with soil leaving the small stems free.

• Do not be tempted to plant them closer in order to save space.

• You will restrict the growth of the onions and end up with smaller ones to harvest.

• As you can see from my photos I used lots of small trenches up and down one of my vegetable growing areas.

• Water when required and do not let them get too dry otherwise the bulbs will split.

• Keep an eye on them by weeding and watering when necessary.

• That is all you have to do until harvesting time.

When to Harvest Onions

• Onions always grow above the ground so as the weeks pass you will be able to see them grow and mature.

• Once the leaves start to go yellow and wither you will know it is time to pull them.

• They will not all be ready at the same time and this is an advantage for gardeners with small gardens. Pick one or two as needed for the kitchen and enjoy the taste of the freshest onions you can get.

• If the time comes where you need to harvest the remainder of the onions before you are ready to cook them they can be stored for up to a few months.

How to Store Onions

• Pick the onions left in your garden

• Lay the onions out in the sun for a few hours to dry

• Brush off the excess soil and store them in a warm dry place to dry out.

• You should not have too many onions left by this time because you could only plant a few in your small garden. The onions will be fresh and ready to use over the next few weeks.

Dry Out The Onions

Storing Onions

Here is how I used the onions I grew in my garden last year