Planting
To continue the theme from last week about planting, harvesting, and curing, I figured I would discuss another favorite allium, the onion. Unlike garlic, onions should not be planted in fall. I started some from seed indoors in late February or early March but in all honesty I gave up on them this year. I will try again next season, my constant reassuring mantra so I don’t admit failure, but I have always had luck planting onion sets. Onion sets are basically onions that have been started from seed earlier and look much like a dried out scallion. You plant the sets, water, and wait until you see the greens perk up and your onion is on its way.
Harvesting
It is so satisfying to watch as your onions begin to resemble the onions you see at the market. You will watch as the bulbs begin to get larger and then push their way up above the soil. When you get to this point with a big beautiful onion bulb you may start wondering, when should I harvest? The onions will tell you when to pick them, as long as the onion greens are standing straight up, leave them alone. When the onion greens fall over and you’re about to shake your fist at the sky cursing that you have lost another harvest, that is really the onions telling you to get the harvest basket out. See the images below to see the onions telling me to pick them now!
Curing
As you can see in the image below, I cure onions in a very similar way to garlic, you can even
see my garlic curing right next to the onions. I have a new experiment going on here; I am testing to see if curing onions with the greens on or off will speed up the process or improve curing at all. However, most sources suggest that you wait at least 2 weeks to cure your onions. They should be out of the sun and in an area with ventilation, I have them in the garage but a shed or basement could work as well. What you are looking for is for the outer part of the onion to turn brownish and papery.
The Experiment
Check back in a few weeks for an update if cutting off the greens helped or harmed the curing process. Worst case scenario the worms get something extra in the compost pile, best case scenario, I have a fast curing process. Fingers crossed.
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