Sure, garlic is great. And shallots are sexy. But let’s talk onions. Onions are the workhorse of the culinary world, and they still get short shrift. Me? You know I’m a big fan. In fact, I just used my last home-grown onion last weekend.

Few things in this world are more versatile. Can you think of one thing that makes almost everything else taste better, and can disguise a good cry?

Have you grown onions? Want to try? Lucky for us, most onions are also easy to grow here, too.  At least, they are once you sort through the options.

Option 1: Plant sets, transplants or seeds?

You can plant any or all. Sets are onions that were started by a grower last year, and held in dormancy for planting again in spring. They are usually easy to find through catalogs and garden centers and sometimes in grocery or hardware stores. They usually start quickly. Plant them 1 inch deep, with a couple of inches between sets. Downside of sets is that you usually don’t have much choice of variety.

You can also plant transplants, which you’ve started indoors or bought from a garden center. If you start seeds to transplant, you’ll have abundant options as to the kinds of onions you can grow. Last year, I grow a lot of those fun, flat cipolinni onions. Plant transplants about 1 inch deep, also.

If you’re feeling adventurous, you can direct sow seeds in your garden, also. These will work great for green onions, but probably won’t get big enough to make it worthwhile to save for cooking over the winter.

You can plant any of the three types in your garden right now.

 Option 2: Long day or short day?

You may see onions seeds or set described as long-day or short-day onions. If you have a choice, get long day, as they’ll get bigger here in Minnesota.

Option 3: Red, yellow or white?

Reds are great for slicing onto burgers or using in salads,  yellows (sometimes called brown) are often the biggest, most pungent, and best keepers.  Whites are pretty to cook with or pickle.

No matter what options you choose, you’ll have better luck if you do three things:

1. Plant in well-worked soil (break up that clay!)

2. Water, especially while getting established.

3. Keep the weeds down. Onions can’t shade out any weeds on their own, and if you don’t keep them down, the weeds will steal all the soil goodies, and you’ll get no sympathy for your puny onions.

Okay onion folks. Post your onion advice, questions, or stories here. Stories? Does anyone have onions stories?

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 28th, 2009 at 8:23 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.