Onions

50 pounds of onions

Onions are a favorite to grow at One Love Farm because they can be planted in early spring before many of the more tender crops. So when you are itching to get something in the ground, onions are a good choice along with your peas, beets, radishes and hearty greens. We plant onion sets. Those are the mini onions that you plant directly in the ground. You can also plant onion seeds, which we have difficulty germinating or seedlings which are tiny onion sprouts.

This year I planted red, white and yellow onion sets in early spring. Onions like full sun and beds with good drainage that are weed free. We got two out of the three criteria. Can you guess which one wasn't accomplished?

This weekend I dug up the onions, washed them off and put them on a screen in the garage. We will use the onions fresh this summer and store the rest in the basement for fall and winter. Here is a link to a good article about growing and storing onions. I have found in researching onion growing a lot of conflicting information about growing and storing onions. Some say to wait until the leaves have all turned brown before harvesting, some say to harvest when only some leaves have turned brown. Some say to pull out onions and others say to dig them up with a garden fork like a potato. Some say to wash the onion before curing, others say to leave the dirt on. I say experiments and find what you think works best.