Julie
02-24-2009, 12:54 PM
Plant once for Everlasting Bunching Onions
Nine years ago I planted one packet of white bunching onion seeds, and I?m still eating from the row. Each year I get the tastiest, earliest scallions you can imagine. I don?t do a thing all season except pull a few weeds now and then.
It?s important to plant a ?bunching? onion variety because these onions will not form a bulb. The bottoms stay thin all year long. Plant them where you won?t be tilling, such as next door to a perennial planting. I have mine near my black raspberries.
Plant the seeds thickly in early spring. Thin them a little with a rake when they come up, then let them grow. Harvest some of them when the stems are as big as a pencil, but leave plenty alone. Let them go right into the fall and winter. Don?t mulch them?they don?t need it.
In the spring they?ll come back and you?ll be able to harvest some very early scallions. Again, be sure to leave plenty of plants in the row. These will go to seed before too long. When they do, don?t do anything except admire the beautiful blossoms and watch the bees work them. You want the plants to reseed the row. A whole new group of onions will start to grow. They?ll winter over and send up early green tails the next spring. They?re about the
very first thing you can eat from your garden. You can pull some from the bed anytime, but you?ll find that the first handfuls in early spring have the best flavor.
http://garden.blogtells.com/2008/07/14/plant-once-for-everlasting-bunching-onions/
Nine years ago I planted one packet of white bunching onion seeds, and I?m still eating from the row. Each year I get the tastiest, earliest scallions you can imagine. I don?t do a thing all season except pull a few weeds now and then.
It?s important to plant a ?bunching? onion variety because these onions will not form a bulb. The bottoms stay thin all year long. Plant them where you won?t be tilling, such as next door to a perennial planting. I have mine near my black raspberries.
Plant the seeds thickly in early spring. Thin them a little with a rake when they come up, then let them grow. Harvest some of them when the stems are as big as a pencil, but leave plenty alone. Let them go right into the fall and winter. Don?t mulch them?they don?t need it.
In the spring they?ll come back and you?ll be able to harvest some very early scallions. Again, be sure to leave plenty of plants in the row. These will go to seed before too long. When they do, don?t do anything except admire the beautiful blossoms and watch the bees work them. You want the plants to reseed the row. A whole new group of onions will start to grow. They?ll winter over and send up early green tails the next spring. They?re about the
very first thing you can eat from your garden. You can pull some from the bed anytime, but you?ll find that the first handfuls in early spring have the best flavor.
http://garden.blogtells.com/2008/07/14/plant-once-for-everlasting-bunching-onions/