My garden club members are being encouraged to grow onions for a contest...bigger the better. Any advice /tips? I am supposed to give a little talk about this if I can't find a volunteer.

I am of no help with very little experience with onions. But I just planted shallot sets and already they are growing impressively! I got them in a swap and the lady called them "Green Onions". But they are not Green Onions. I have grown Green Onions. But rather these are a small onion bulb. Here they are at just 7 days old. Good luck in your contest.

Looks good!

Order some transplants from Bruce at Dixondale farms. He'll tell you when to get them shipped and planted based on your zipcode.

Follow his fertilizing advice and you can't go wrong. Here's a photo of my 2011 harvest from Bruce's onions:



http://www.dixondalefarms.com/

Gollee, those look yummy.

Anna, be interested to know results. Thinking about trying a few onion and garlic plants next year, so the more information, the better.
(Will be a great talk in any event, you are a natural. )

Thanks for the advice and encouragement! Were those onions as tasty as they looked?

They were VERY sweet. We ate them every way you could imagine and we loved them all. We also chopped and froze a lot and still use them for cooking.

Sounds wonderful. I am sure all that compost helped too

I'm another fan of Dixondale Farms onions. They are very healthy and arrive just in time for planting. Here in the Metroplex, I plant onions on Valentine's Day and harvest in early June.

Hi Stephanie! What kinds do you buy and do you add anything special to the soil besides compost?

I get the short day sampler. I add compost and follow the planting directions. It's really important to add fertilizer (you can do organic) at planting time like directed and then fertilize every other week. Last year, I used a weaker fertilizer so I fertilized weekly. Be sure to give them lots of sun and water appropriately. If you go to the Dixondale website, they have a planting/growing guide you can download. I also order my onions early, like late December-early January to be delivered at the beginning of February.

Thanks Stephanie. I will pass on the information

I have enough multiplying onions (like green onions) to send a
starter bunch to 3 or 4 people. When you dig to use some, just
always put one or two back in the ground and you will always have
green onions. I have no idea which kind they are.

Louise

Louise, if those onions are perennial, they're called Multiplier and are heirloom onions.

Tell me about these multiplier onions. I was given some and they have been in a pot growing all winter. When do I divide them etc. We have been enjoying them. Yes, they are very much like green onions. I just cut the tops off and they keep growing. Is that how they are supposed to be eaten, or is the bulb eaten like a regular onion?

Read Loiuse's last post on Nov 10th.

Cheryl ~ multiplier onions are perennial here. They can stay in ground year around. The tops will die down in early summer (May for me). You can harvest the bulbs and save them to replant or you can leave them in the ground and in fall (Oct) they will begin to sprout and grow again. If left in the ground, they will turn into a clump of smaller onion bulbs. Mine are about the size of a quarter. They are known as multipliers, bunching onions or potato onions.

You can eat the onion tops and the bulbs but these will never make larger bulbs like Canadanna was looking for when she began this thread.

I finally planted mine in a raised bed. I added all kinds of amendments to the soil. It was very tempting for my dog who kept jumping in. I ended up covering the frame with an old IKEA bed slats and then covered with a cloth cause it will be cold tonight. I put my bed to bed!

I just got the Dixondale catalog. I'm going to order, but think I'll ask my neighbor to take some of them. I have to have another person to grow them so I can see if it's just me that's a lousy vegetable gardener.

How did your onions fare, Anna?

I planted some in the best organic soil in a raised bed and stuck some in with garden plants. I probably didn't fertilized/water enough so the raised bed ones were puny while some of the garden bed ones bigger but only slightly less puny. I think alot will depend on the variety . Good time to order for selection I hope.