Green Onions 101

I started writing this blog mainly because people kept asking me how to make risotto. I seemed to be emailing my basic risotto instructions to someone different every other week. Then one day I thought, hang on a minute, isn't this what the internet is for? So I started this blog.

Much of the inspiration for these posts still comes from people asking me questions about cooking and growing food. Until now, I've been lucky enough to be asked about things I actually know, like how to roast a chicken, or how to grow tomatoes.

But this week Anya asked about growing green onions, something I really don't know much about at all. So full disclosure: I'm no green onion expert. But I am a new enthusiast, so I'll tell you what I've found out so far.

It's always great to walk outside and pick something for the salad bowl or the pasta or risotto. But going out and pulling up a plump, pungent, juicy green onion is something very special.

One home grown green onion packs the same punch as a whole bunch of those sad sacks that come in a plastic bag from the supermarket. I'm hooked, and I'm determined never to be without a crop.

Spring and summer
In spring and summer you can put onion seeds straight into the ground, and they'll germinate in a week or three. I do it like this:

• Sprinkle some compost or potting mix onto the soil where you're going to plant.
• Run a pencil or a stick along the ground to make a bit of a dip -- not too deep. It doesn't need to be a straight line! Circles or swirls are great.
• Drizzle in the seeds. Use lots. You can thin them out later.
• Press the seeds into the soil so they're just lightly covered.
• Water gently -- no squirting aggressively with a hose! Use a watering can or a hose setting that sprinkles like a good heavy rain fall. This is simply to stop the seeds washing away. 
• Water regularly to keep the ground damp, pull up weeds. And wait patiently.

They look a bit ragamuffin and weedy at the start, but keep them watered and they'll be fine. If you plant them out in the sun, they will grow faster than if they're shaded... but they'll all grow up eventually. I gave my latest crop a feed of seaweed and I think that gave them a nice boost. It was a liquid seaweed concentrate, sprayed onto the leaves, when the plants were about six inches tall. You can spray them every couple of weeks.

If you're short of room in the garden, just plant the seeds in pots, outside, and keep them watered. It's fine to plant heaps of seeds in one small pot. Just tip them gently out of the pot, separate the seedlings carefully so you don't wreck their roots, and pop them into the ground wherever you've got room.

The great thing about green onions is that they take up so little space -- they're tall and thin with shallow roots, so perfect for a border or between rows of other veges.

These ones started in a pot, and have been perfectly happy crowded in with the sweet peas and the tomato pots. I read that they keep bugs away from other plants, which if true is yet another bonus.

Speaking of bugs
The only bugs I've seen on the green onions are the same black aphid-like sucking creatures that attack chives. I deal with them by putting on my gardening gloves and giving the onions a lovely tender massage from the base to the top, squashing the little bastards as I go. Why spray when you can wipe out a whole infestation with one massage?

Autumn and winter
You can plant seeds in the cold seasons too, but they will germinate and grow Very Slowly. This is to be expected. The days are short, temperatures are low, the soil is cold and wet; you'd be sluggish if you were outside in those conditions. I have read that green onions don't tolerate frost. I don't know, as we don't get frost in our garden, but it gets very cold out there, and the onions really don't seem to mind.

• Plant seeds in pots and keep them in a shed, porch or glasshouse until they are a few inches tall. Put heaps of seeds in the pot. They don't mind being crowded. 
• When they're three or four inches high, tip them gently out of the pot, separate the seedlings carefully, and plant them out in the garden.
• Don't hold your breath! You can pretty much ignore them, unless you have a very dry winter in which case, water them occasionally. 
• Pull up any weeds you see growing around them, so they're not having to share the food in the soil. 
• Spray with a seaweed feed if you want to help them along. 

See those spindly bits of green on the far left and right of this bed? They are the green onions I planted in pots in March, planted out in the garden in May, and are big, fat and delicious to eat now. Like this:

A year round supply
I'm aiming for green onions from the garden all year. That means planting a pot crowded with seeds every month, and slipping them out into the garden when there's space or when they outgrow the pots. I have no idea of how the timing is going to work, but I'm determined not to buy green onions in plastic bags ever again.

So to recap:

• Plant lots of seeds regularly. Outside when it's warmer, inside when it's cold. 
• Dot seedlings all around the garden, even in little spaces. They don't need much room at all.
• Feed with a seaweed spray every few weeks if you like. 
• Massage off the bugs.
• Pull out weeds.
• Don't hold your breath, but do look forward to the day you have green onions ready for picking any time you want them. Your garden and kitchen will be a better place.

Have you got any tips for growing green onions? I'd love to hear them.