Growing Onions & Shallots - How to Grow Onions & Shallots by John Harrison, author of Vegetable Growing Month by Month

The onion is one of the underrated vegetables, mainly because shop bought varieties tend to be bland at best and onions have become almost a commodity.

When you grow your own you can choose to grow for your own tastes rather than the supermarket conformity. From mild onions to those so strong they can be considered as tear gas.

The strength of an onion is due to the sulphur content and how you grow your onions makes a difference to how much sulphur they will contain.

Although, like all plants, onions require potash, the more potash they have available the less sulphur they absorb. Using low potash fertilisers will result in smaller, but stronger tasting onions. There is information on potash in the fertilizers section.

You can also decide what size of onion you like by the spacing. The closer the planting, the smaller the onion. It really is that simple.

Growing Onions from Sets or Seed

Main bulb onions are either grown from seeds or sets, which are effectively small bulbs. Spring onions or scallions are always grown from seed.

Sets are easier for beginners, although starting from seed isn't really difficult. The sets have a head start so they get off quickly, are more disease resistant, avoid the onion fly, crop better in poorer soils and will usually provide a crop even if they go in later than they should.

Seeds however are cheaper to buy and are available in far more varieties. They are also less prone to bolting and seem to store better as well.

You can get over-wintering onions, often called Japanese onions and these do seem to do better from sets than seed. They do not store well but do fill the gap until the main crop arrives a month later. These are planted from mid-September to early November to provide an early crop for June.

Shallots are practically always grown from sets. You can get seed but it's very unusual. Cultivation is very similar to onion sets except they like a little longer in the ground Shallots, apart from the flavour difference being considered sweeter and milder, has an advantage of storing for longer. We've actually had shallots store perfectly for over a year.

Onion & Shallots Pests & Problems

Onions do have pests & problems - the onion fly being the principle pest and white rot the worst disease problem

Culinary Uses Of Onions & Shallots

The onion family are so versatile and popular in so many dishes it is almost easier to say what they can not be used with. One reason for the popularity of onions is that they are acidic and this acid is softens tough meats. Hence the use of onions in marinades and casseroles of cheaper cuts of meat.

There's a list of recipes using onions as the main ingredient on this site.

Growing Onions & Shallots

• Growing Onions & Shallots Overview
• Growing Onions from Seed
• Growing Onions from Sets
• Growing Shallots
• Growing Spring Onions or Scallions
• Onion Pests and Problems
• Onion Recipes
• Growing Garlic

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