The Almighty Onion

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I just mentioned sets, which are the easiest method of growing onions. These are small onions that were started from seed, bulbed slightly, then pulled and dried. A pound will plant about fifty feet of row. When my garden soil has been tilled, making the soil light and airy, I grasp a set by the top, push the root-end into the soil about three inches, then on to the next. I space them about four inches apart in rows eight inches apart. When I hand dig the area, I make a three-inch-deep furrow, push the sets into the bottom of the furrow, pull the soil back over them, and tamp it down with the back of the hoe.

Since onions are very hardy, this can and should be done as soon as the ground can be worked in the spring. That will give the plant the maximum amount of time to grow before it turns to the job of making a bulb. Don't worry about optimum timing. Peas and spinach need to be planted before the onions, but you shouldn't get too anxious about all this. It might take some of the fun out of gardening. I have planted onion sets as late as June and been pleased with my harvest. Trying for optimum timing just seems too much like work to me.

If you used a manure, seaweed, or compost spread in the spring for fertilizer, probably nothing more is needed. If you are working with high humus and low fertility, relying on soil microorganisms, the onions will benefit from a little soluble nitrogen in the form of blood meal, alfalfa meal, or the like. Onions will suffer from shade; they should not be planted close to corn. Weeds should be controlled. The first element of weed control is to rake the soil at the time of planting to kill any weeds that may have sprouted since the time the ground was turned and planted. Mulching between the rows with grass clippings is my favorite weed control for onions, because it also assures a steady supply of moisture to the roots. I like to put about three inches of green grass clippings between the rows within a couple of weeks of planting. If I am going to mulch before the plants emerge, I have to make it clear where the rows are. Placing handfuls of clippings between the rows, I allow some of the clippings to fall over the planted row. The onion shoots will push through a light mulch without any problem since they are coming from bulbs.

Cultivation is pretty straightforward also, either with a light hoe — there is a hoe called an onion hoe — or with a wheel hoe. Cultivate every ten days and do a little hand-weeding for those that escape efforts to destroy them. Try not to let any weeds get too big, as pulling them will damage the shallow onion roots.

Harvest and Storage

You can harvest onions at any time. Just pull a few and chop the tops into a soup or eat the bottoms as scallions. These may be a bit more pungent than scallions planted from a scallion seed but are still good. When the outdoor grill is going and the onions have bulbed, pull some and stick them on the grill. The tops can be left hanging over the side of the grill to use as handles. Even if they get burned on the outside, inside there will be something that a vegetable lover will find as sweet as a marshmallow. With the grill uncovered, the onions will cook more uniformly if wrapped in foil. The real harvest is so wonderfully easy, I can't contain myself. The day length that caused them to bulb also causes them to go dormant. At the appropriate time, the tops will die down and flop over. Some people will tell you to knock over the tops that don't fall over on their own. You can if you like. I don't. It smacks of work to me. Sometime between the time the tops fall over and the first hard frost, I pull them all and drop them right there in the row. I leave them there for at least two days and maybe a month depending again on frost and what I feel like doing. I don't want them to freeze, though they can actually stand a little freeze, as long as you don't mess with them while they are in a frosty state.

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