Should i hill my onions

In one section, you recommend mulch, but in another day that mulch harbors maggots. Please explain. My grandpa loves to tease, and he likes to tell us you should always plant onions and Potatoes together.

He says they do better that way in a dry year. When we'd ask him why, he'd say, because onions make the eyes water! They make my eyes water, but not potato eyes!!! I find that I have much better luck growing beautiful larger onions with transplants.

I plant in early spring, and again about weeks later to have young green onions longer. I plant them close together and thin them out and use as green onions until they are spaced about 5 - 6 inches apart. I then let them grow until they start to die back. I water my onions very well every day and they do great. I also love to grow my own garlic.

Garlic takes longer and I usually plant in the fall and harvest them in early June. I brought them inside, hoping to dry them out and start them this year. Any tricks for those? I believe the are Walla Walla Sweets. The dirt needs to be removed from around the onion to allow the onion to bulb. Onion maggots is my nemisus.

I planted Walla Walla onions from transplants in the fall here in CA. This is the second year that my onions do not "bulb out". They look like leeks with a very slight swelling at the root end. I do crop rotate. They are beautiful and green and look wonderful otherwise.

What am I doing wrong? My onions are attacked by small insects looking like aphids and I have tried normal pesticides but they have proved ineffective during dry conditions, o please help me out if you have ever faced this challenge. I was given a 20 kg saco of red sun shalott sets and planted half, can i pickle the rest or would it not work for some reason.

Is this correct and what results can I expect? We recommend not planting onions deeper than 1. Deeper than that and they will struggle to do well. Where might I find "multiplying" onions When left to maturity they will reseed themselves. As far as sweetness goes ,, it's partially dependent on how much you water. It is fine for them to be damp consistently but "wet" feet soggy is only tolerated on occasion. I get mine from the big seed stores and they can be found on e-bay as well.

HI,I have seedlings that were left in the nursery for now more than three months is there a possibility they can groe into big bulbs i can harvest from transplanting,. Will they burn like potatoes do? Also, some of the ones that tipped earliest were rotting out the root end, any tips for preventing that next year. I've never seen Egyptian Walking Onions, but they look like regular ones so fat? Any info would be appreciated.

My grandma in Arkansas always had me go to the garden to pull a few of these onions for meals. She'd always tell me to pull off the top bulbs and spread them back over the onion patch so they can make yet more onions. As a kid in Llano Texas I had brought back a start of grandmas onions, and before long, I had my own onion patch that we ate from.

But after we moved I lost these onions, till I found that you can order them on amazon. My order came in around November I think.

It was a nice number of the tiny onions that Egyptian walking onions make at their tops. Before long I had my onions again.

This is here in Austin Texas now where I live, and I find that they die back in the heat of the summers. But if you keep them watered, they'll come back in the fall, and really grow in the spring. This far, I've not had much luck in keeping them nice and lush in the summer however.

Anyone have any ideas as to how to keep them doing well in the summer please advise. It gets very hot and dry here in Austin Texas. Thank you. Terry J Rogers. Terry , I have recently moved to Hamlin , Texas.

We're north of Abilene but still have hot dry summers. Last year my Egyptian walking onions struggled in the degree weather we had throughout last May. There is a shade tree in one corner of my garden that is useful for veggies that don't like the heat. There was a bit of space to use and extra onion seeds as well. Remember that we have a LOT of sunshine here. The tree has heavy leaf coverage and provides a small amount of dappled sun.

The onions that got the most shade have done the best. I don't know if this will work for you , but worth a try. By the way , the shade protected them from the harsh evening sun. In a case where i want to grow sets instead of transplants,where do i get the sets from or how do i prepare them? I'm growing yellow onions for the first time and am wondering if I planted one of the plants too shallow.

I can see the tops and some of the actual bulb. Is there a way to remedy this or is it a lost cause? Shallots will also stay much smaller than yellow, red or sweet onions.

Planting onions too late usually results in disappointingly small bulbs. Start onion seeds weeks before you anticipate being able to transplant them into the garden, between mid-February and mid-March. Onions will tolerate light frost and can be planted in the garden in late April or May.

It is also possible to directly sow seeds in the garden as soon as soil can be worked in the spring, but the resulting onions will likely be smaller. Onion sets can also be planted as soon as the soil can be worked. Sets are small, juvenile bulbs that have been stored over the winter.

They are a dependable way to ensure a harvest. The only risk is that they might bolt flower prematurely if they are exposed to cold temperatures in the spring. Onions that flower develop mushy bulbs that are no longer edible, so if you see a flower head forming, harvest and eat that onion as soon as possible.

When onions have to compete for sunlight, water and nutrients, they will often fail to produce many leaves as they need to grow large bulbs. Each onion leaf equates to a ring on a bulb, so a greater number of large, healthy leaves means bigger onions. If onions are planted too close to one another they will compete with one another, resulting in smaller bulbs. Whether direct seeding, transplanting seedlings or planting onion sets, onions should be spaced inches apart to maximize growth.

Onions tend to have very shallow root systems, which makes them poor competitors against neighboring weeds. Aim to keep the soil around onions weed-free by mulching with a thick layer of grass clippings, shredded leaves or clean straw.

Frequent shallow cultivation between onion rows can also be effective. The growing onions will also appreciate it if they don't have to compete with weeds for nutrients. Keep the onion bed free of weeds by shallow hoeing. People who would like to work at home making and selling rooted cuttings. If you are growing onions for green onions, soil can be slightly hilled around the plants to help them develop the long, white stems that are desired for green onions.

But do not hill onions that are meant for storage as hilling can cause the necks to rot in storage. Green onions may be harvested once their green tops are six inches tall or more.

The youngest onions will be the most mild, and they will develop a stronger flavor as they grow larger. If you are growing onions for cooking, individual onions may be harvested as needed once they form a bulb. The entire crop is ready for harvest when most of the tops have naturally flopped over, generally in late July through August.

Growing onions should be allowed to mature naturally. Do not become impatient and bend over the tops yourself as this will interrupt the natural growth of the onions and they will not store well. Any onion plants that have flowered should be harvested and used immediately. Once an onion has flowered it will not store well, so use those first. When harvesting the entire crop at the end of the season, it is best to pull them in the morning on a dry day.

Allow the onions to air dry right in the garden until late afternoon. Then before the evening dew sets in, brush off any excess soil from the onions and place them on elevated screens or slats or tie the tops together and hang them in bunches in a dry, airy place. Be careful to keep the onions from touching each other. The onions will be completely dried and cured in two to three weeks. Do not peel the onions until you are ready to use them in the kitchen. Once the onions are fully dry, the tops can be cut back to an inch or two, then stored in a cool dry place.

Onions that have been bruised or cut and those that have green tops or thick necks will not store well and should be used right away. Check the stored onions regularly and discard any that develop soft spots.

Onions generally have few problems as they are growing. Insects rarely bother them, although root maggots can be a minor problem in northern climates. If root maggots attack the growing onions in your garden, move the onion patch to another area of the garden the following year. Onion thrips can also damage the developing plants but they can be easily controlled with garden insecticides or insecticidal soap. Even though onion bulbs are growing underground, you can get an idea of how large those onions will grow just by looking at their green tops.

Onions grow rings, and for each ring there will be a corresponding green leaf on the plant. And the larger the Word leaf is, the larger its corresponding ring will be. When you look at your well-tended onion bed and admire all the happily-growing onions with their lush green leaves, you'll know that you can expect to harvest a terrific onion crop.