How To Grow Big Onions From Sets

Acquire how to plant onions in society to harvest big beautiful onions. This postal service tells yous when and how to plant onions in your garden.

Onions are a cool-season ingather and tin exist planted every bit soon as the soil is workable; as early equally 4 weeks earlier the first frost complimentary days. In Manitoba, our average start frost gratuitous date is May 24, and then onions could go in around April 20th if the soil is set up. Even if the dark-green tops start poking out, onions tin can take frost or even a layer of snow.

Why Plant Onions Early?

Did y'all know that onions are photothermoperiodic? Absurd word, simply what does it take to practice with planting onions? It means onions are sensitive to light and temperature, in other words, onions demand to get enough hours of daylight at the right temperature for optimum growth.

Long-day onions (white, yellowish or cerise cooking onions) – the kind we grow hither in Manitoba – need about 13 to 16 hours of calorie-free daily during bulb formation (early May to July). We need to get our onions in the basis as early equally we can to meet those daylight requirements. Remember the longest day of the year is June 21 and daylight fourth dimension decreases subsequently that.

Get onions in as soon as the soil tin be worked and overnight temps are higher than -half dozen°C (20°F) to take advantage of those long days. I usually plant mine quondam between Apr 20 and May 5 – depending on temperature, soil temperature, soil moisture, etc.

If you've ever planted onions and wondered why you're bulbs were so tiny – not enough daylight is probable the main culprit.

How to Get Bigger Onion Bulbs:

Ensure they aren't shaded, as stated above, onions need the maximum number of hours of daylight to grow big bulbs.
Provide adequate infinite betwixt onion bulbs, three-4 inches (even though the bag may say one inch, as mine did).
Remove weeds that may compete for light and/or moisture.
Ensure sufficient wet during seedling formation especially – onions won't await like they need water (ie they won't wilt), but they do!
Plant early on enough in the season to ensure onions will get enough hours of daylight.
Plant the correct variety for your area – long-24-hour interval (north), intermediate-twenty-four hour period (central) and short-24-hour interval (south). Buy local and bank check the label to be sure your onion sets are sourced from your region – Canadian sourced onion sets volition most probable exist long-mean solar day onions unless specifically labelled otherwise.
Loosen the soil and so the soil is non besides compact for the bulb to grow.

How to Constitute Onions

It is easiest to abound onions from onion"sets" – immature onion bulbs. If yous prefer to start from onion seeds, they must be started in doors very early in the twelvemonth. One piddling onion set volition abound into one big onion, and then plant as many sets every bit you lot want to harvest. Put the onion with the root side down and the pointy side up in the soil.

When to Plant: Early on, 4 weeks before final frost free solar day (end of Apr to mid-May in Winnipeg) – when soil is workable

Days to Maturity:75-110 days depending on multifariousness, greenish onion tops can be harvested within iii weeks

Where to Constitute: Full sun is best in well tuckered, fertile soil

How to Constitute Onions:With pointy tip up, place sets in soil and embrace with 1″ (2.5 cm) of soil. Don't get besides deep!

Spacing Between Sets:space iii-4″ (eight cm) apart so each seedling has plenty of infinite to grow

Spacing Between Rows: space rows;12-16″ (thirty-xl cm) apart

Depth of Set: 1″ (ii.5 cm) deep

Companion Seeding: Seed onions next to cabbage, broccoli, kale, kohlrabi, brussel sprouts, tomatoes, celery, carrots, beets, peppers, spinach, parsnips, strawberries. I similar planting onions next to my carrots with the promise that the onions go along carrot flies away – I've never had them, so I continue this partnership alive!

Non- Companions: Avoid planting onions adjacent to beans, peas, sage and asparagus

Hither are some random photos of onions growing in our garden.

Past end of July onions are flopped over and set to harvest. Yous'll want to read the following:
How to Harvest and Cure Onions
How to Store Onions
How to Dehydrate Onions
How to Freeze Onions

More Tips for Planting Your Garden

How to Constitute Corn

How to Plant Leeks

How to Plant Carrots

How to Plant Peas

How to Plant Beets

How to Institute Tomatoes

How to Plant Garlic

Top 5 Herbs for Your Garden

Grow Your Ain Seasoning Blend

Grow Your Ain Herbal Teas

How to Grow Chives

When to Institute Different Vegetables

Sign upwardly to get articles by Getty delivered to your inbox. You'll become recipes, applied tips and groovy food information similar this. Getty is a Professional person Home Economist, speaker and author putting good food on tables and agendas. She is the writer of Manitoba'south acknowledged Prairie Fruit Cookbook, Founder of Fruit Share, a mom and veggie gardener.