Growing onions

• Onions like sandy loamy soil.

• For large bulbing onions space individual plants 4 to 6 inches apart.
  Scallions or bunching onions can be grown in tight clumps of 6 to 8 plants spaced about 6 inches apart.

• If tops have grown over 5 inches before transplant, cut to 3 inches.

• Before planting, add some general purpose fertilizer to the soil.

• As bulbs approach maturity, withhold water so protective paper can form.

• Harvest: After about half of the tops have fallen, push over the remainder: wait about one week then harvest. Cure in a warm (75 to 80 deg. F.) in a shaded well ventilated location until the outer skin and necks are dry, then trim the tops one inch above the bulb. Store in a cool dry well ventilated location.
  Scallions or bunching onions, of course, are harvested while still green, when pencil size or larger.

  PLEASE NOTE: The plants on my farm table have NOT been hardened off. They are straight from the greenhouse.
  You can do one of the following:
  1. Expose them gradually to outdoor conditions over a week
  -OR (as I do)-
  2. Plant them immediately and give them protection from excess sun, wind, and rain for a week or two.

2026

Lilia

Bunching/bulbing onion. A beautiful, red scallion / salad / spring onion with tall, dark green tops. Red color develops early. Flavor is not as pungent as one would expect for a red onion; its mildness is well-suited for raw/fresh use. Bright red/purple color is very pretty in the field, the market booth, and on the plate. Flavor intensifies as plants mature. Also does well as a dual-purpose onion and, if planted in spring, can be grown past bunching stage to produce impressively large bulbs with dark red wrappers that store remarkably well. Winner of the United Kingdom’s Royal Horticultural Society Award of Garden Merit. (Adaptive Seeds)

Red Baron

Bunching/bulbing onion
60 days. An extremely versatile red onion that maintains its vibrant burgundy color at all stages of growth. When planted in the summer, Red Baron can be harvested in the early fall as a scallion. When plants reach 12 to 14 inches tall, they will start forming  small bulbs, which are mild flavored and wonderful in salads or pickled.
For scallions, plant 2 inches apart; for bulb onions, plant 5-7 inches apart. Overwintered, it forms a 3 to 4 inch bulb that stores longer than other red onions. Open pollinated variety. (Territorial Seed)

Here at WILLS FARM, this is my favorite onion. If I overlook it in the garden, I find it later having made beautiful variably sized bulbs that will actually keep indoors all winter if I forget about them again in the kitchen (Last fall I harvested one 4 inch diameter bulb from a forgotten patch!). Delicious and just the right size for when you need a little bit of onion. Very good sliced in half lengthwise and grilled. All photos are from my own garden.

Candy

No matter where you live, you can grow this huge, savory yellow onion, with thick, succulent flesh and a delicious flavor both sharp and sweet. Candy stores for months—if you can resist them that long, that is.

Candy is a revolutionary new type of onion. Neither a long-day (Northern) nor short-day (Southern) variety, Candy is a "mid-day" or day-neutral variety. This means that it can be grown just about anywhere from the far north to the deep south. And it's earlier, larger, and more flavorful than its long- and short-day varieties. By combining the best of both in terms of flavor, holding ability, and earliness, Candy is unsurpassed for performance and taste. F1 hybrid. (Park Seed)

NOTE: Park Seeds recommends a plant spacing of 2 to 3 inches for this onion. To me, that seems too close for what they are describing as a “huge” onion.

Rainbow Trio

Diamond Swan, Cherry Mountain, and Saffron

Long keeping onions. One packet yields three different colored, widely adapted, intermediate day length onions. These high-yielding, long keeping varieties include: brilliant red Cherry Mountain and golden-bronze Saffron F1 Grano types, and silvery Diamond Swan F1. All three of these powerhouse hybrids germinate quickly and grow strongly, producing heavy early yields of firm, big, crunchy bulbs with shiny, papery wrapper skins. These onions store well and are endlessly versatile for salads, sautés, stews, soups, and casseroles. F1 hybrid. (Renee’s Garden)

Purplette

Early purple-red-skinned mini onion.

These flavorful specialty onions mature early and hold well. Purplette is a glossy rich burgundy, transforming to a nice pastel pink when cooked or pickled. Can be harvested at golf ball size or very young as baby bunching onions with purple pearl ends. Best at 40° latitude and higher. Open pollinated variety. (Johnny’s Selected Seeds)