It might sound unusual, however one in every of my favourite root greens is the lowly onion. I can relate to this workhorse of culinary veggies. Onions are sometimes missed and undervalued, however they’re really the jack of all trades within the kitchen.
The best way to Use Onions
Sliced onions adorn contemporary salads and burgers. Chopped ones add crunchy warmth to salsas, potato salad, and dips. Cooks meticulously caramelize onions so as to add taste to soups, stews, and meat dishes. Carnival venders even dip them in batter and serve them up with a facet of ranch.
What different veggie will get as a lot mileage in recipes because the onion? These bulbous members of the allium household are one of many most cost-effective veggies you should purchase and one of many best to develop. But, even gardeners dismiss onions as a critical crop.
We brag concerning the measurement of our tomatoes, melons, and zucchini. We tempt our visitors to strive our hottest peppers. We submit photos of our corn, cucumbers, or carrots on social media. What accolades will we bestow on the onion although?
Planting Onions
Maybe this injustice exists as a result of planting onion units is so darn simple. There aren’t any seeds to coddle or nursery-bought seedlings to babysit. We merely purchase the bulbs and pop them into the bottom after we’re able to plant. So long as we handle to bury them root-side-down, they develop, and so they develop effectively, even in poor soil.
I’m nonetheless envious of the baseball-sized candy onions my former neighbor would harvest from his subject of clay. But, I’ve heard onions are heavy feeders. Maybe, feeding them makes them develop bigger, however I can’t say the onions I harvest now are any bigger than these from my first few years of gardening earlier than my soil was amended.
Onions From Seed
I’ll admit, beginning onion from seed is a little more troublesome than planting onion units, however I discover my onion seedlings usually are not as finicky as my child tomato or pepper crops. I sprinkle the onion seeds in a container of dust and maintain it moist.
The onions germinate and develop in the identical container, so there’s no transplanting concerned. When it comes time to switch them to the backyard, I plop the whole pack of dust out and punctiliously separate the person crops. Each will get caught in a pencil-sized gap about 3 to 4 inches (8-10 cm.) away from its neighbor.
One more reason these culinary workhorses are my fave root vegetable is that rising onions within the backyard is simple. After planting, I mulch them with grass as soon as they start to develop. This deters weeds and prevents soil moisture from evaporating through the hottest a part of the summer season. Onions have shallow roots and do greatest when they’re stored moist whereas they’re rising.
Onion Harvest Time
Most years, my onions want little else till they’re prepared for harvest. By now, the grass mulch has dried and shrunk sufficiently to permit the tops of the bulbs to point out. This retains the bulbs from rotting because the tops start to die again. So long as we don’t have extreme rain, I’ll go away the onions within the backyard till the stems are utterly dry.
I then dig the onions and remedy them in a heat, dry place for 2 to 4 weeks. Correctly cured, my onions will final a lot of the winter in my basement. But, there may be nonetheless one more reason I like rising onions.
Onions are one of many few crops that can be utilized at virtually any stage of growth. As soon as onion units begin to develop and ship up just a few inexperienced leaves, I start harvesting inexperienced onions. I chopped them for salads, slice them for sandwiches, or place them entire on roasts.
Now, I’m certain there are lots of gardeners who’d say carrots, potatoes, beets, or parsnips are their favourite root veggie. Can these greens stand as much as the flexibility, simple cultivation, and size of harvest as onions? Oh, I believe not!
