I have some space at a Community Garden. The Hmong gardeners there always have neat and tidy gardens, and one of the gardens really caught my eye late last summer because of the onions they were growing.

They appeared to be grown in rows of "hills" and were large, white onions, with about half of the onion exposed above the dirt. Is this a special method of planting onions? My hubby always buries ours deep into the ground and they never get all that large. We never see the actual onion above ground when it's time to harvest them, so perhaps we are planting way too deep.

Still curious if this is a common method to growing onions, with so much of the onion above ground at maturity?

Thank you!

Yes onions grow about half out of ground. If the bulb is covered deeply they will not form up properly. Even when transplanting never cover the beginning bulb completely.

Farmerdill--I just bought onion plants for the first time. I planted them about 1" deep. Does that sound right for bulbing onions? (Variety is Ailsa Craig). Thanks in advance. Your onion photos look amazing!!!

Thank you! That middle photo of yours looks pretty similar to how they looked in the garden I took note of.

For sure, we will not plant them so deep this year. No wonder they never get large or grow they way they should. Thanks for the photos! Look at all those onions!

Linda, My mantra is (no dirt on the green) You never want any of the green part below the soil line. Most people who have problems with onions have planted them too deep. Actual soil depth will need to vary with the size of the transplant.

That's a very helpful tip--thanks, Farmerdill

I agree with Farmerdill -- and Linda, those Ailsa Craig onions can get really big; be sure to space them out so they have room to grow! (Which I mention because I always have difficulty making myself do that, especially with onion plants for some reason .)

My biggest challenge is going to be keeping the chipmunks from digging everything up before they have a chance to root properly. Sigh....