Underground Winter Activity of Garlic and Walking Onions
Charlie
7 years ago
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LoneJack Zn 6a, KC
7 years agobcomplx
7 years agoRelated Discussions
Will I be sorry if I plant walking onions?
Comments (6)My mother always had a patch of walking onions. But she called them winter onions. And this was because you could go and pull some all winter long, if your patch was big enough, and use them in your cooking. We never noticed that they were strong, but it's probably a good thing that they are as she would only use a few at a time. I have had walking onions from time to time, but they tend to not grow as fast as I use them so I have depleted the patch a couple of times. I got a handful of them from a friend a couple of years ago and I have been refraining from using any in order to build up the patch. Carol, you probably do have wild onion, or wild garlic, or both. I have battled a wild garlic for several years, but it blooms each fall and disburses seed as well as spreading underground. I sure hope I got it out this year. It's not so much that I mind having them, it's just that they're so invasive and they fill up the space so completely you can't plant anything else near it. Our neighbors have it in their yard too: I can smell it when they mow their grass. I am determined this year to get totally rid of three things: wild garlic, primrose, and black-eyed susan. I bought the primrose at a garage sale, the lady didn't bother to tell me about their habit and they were so pretty in bloom. But they travel. They don't stay where you plant them and just go where they like. Before you know it, they are everywhere EXCEPT where you planted them! And the black-eyed susans -- gosh! I noticed my neighbor two yards over had a little planting of them one summer about three years ago. Either the wind blew the seed or the birds scattered it, because they became a weed in my little herb garden corner. They were so thick you could hardly see anything else! I have totally scalped that area, and you know, as I was looking things over this morning I discovered one about ready to bloom, in with my oregano! Once you get something like this, you really have to be vigilant. If even one plant gets to bloom, it seems it instantly makes seed and you are right back where you started. Oddly enough, though, I have never seen any more of them growing in my neighbor's yard other than that one year....See MoreEgyptiam Walking Onion and Garlic Sources for Hank
Comments (3)Hank, I plant onions in late January to early February for harvest approximately 95 to 120 days later. You can harvest green onions from any variety of onions that you grow. I think you can harvest green onions once the sets have been actively growing for a month or so. A lot of people plant their onions only 2" to 3" apart in rows 20" apart, and then harvest every other onion as a green onion, leaving the onions that will grow to maturity anywhere from 4" to 6" apart. My favorite onions to grow are Texas Supersweet (1015Y), White Granex, Yellow Granex, Candy, Contessa and Stockton Red. This year I grew ten varieties of onions, and Sir Lancelot leeks. I have harvested all but two varieties of the onions and the leeks. I plant garlic in the ground in the fall and harvest it in the spring when the green tops turn yellow. If you ignore the yellow tops and don't harvest it then, new green tops will come out and you can leave it in the ground indefinitely, although quality declines after a couple of growing seasons, at which time you need to dig and divide the cloves. I have had success with both hardneck and softneck garlics, but think softnecks grow better overall. I have never tried growing ginger and don't know if the grocery store type is hardy here, or would have to be grown as an annual. I know that the flower garden type of ginger is only hardy to zone 9. Horseradish is HIGHLY invasive and should be planted in a heavy pot that is sunk mostly into the ground, with maybe an inch or two of the pot extending up above the soil surface, so the roots cannot escape and take over the entire garden. Of course, if the pot has drainage holes, the roots may still escape that way. Dawn...See Morehow to do walking onions in north texas
Comments (6)First you have to put their little shoes on. Sorry, I could not resist. Since they are a perennial, I would try planting some now and save a few for this fall. Most onions are planted in the fall. 1015 onions are planted October 15 in the valley. I had them once, but they were planted when I moved there. The plant will bloom a blossom that looks like society garlic. Those blossoms will make little bulblets, which if probably what you friend sent. You could plant them in a flower bed near the house so they would have winter protection from the house. Onions can be harvested at any stage of growth. If you want young green onions like we buy in the store, pull them up when they are at that stage. Other wise you harvest when the tops begin falling over. They will need to cure in a dry place like the garage. They are cured when the out skin is brown....See MoreWalking onions
Comments (6)I'm no expert, but some years I do grow good onions - this year was not one of those years. I prefer to grow the variety 'Candy' and I prefer to grow it from seed. This is not one of the prime onion growing areas so plenty of things can go wrong. I know farmers whose onion crops failed this year. I grow mine in full sun with rich soil that I add lots of compost to. They like water but also to dry out between waterings. They hate weeds - so they can be a lot of work. Home grown onions are much tastier than store bought onions but you aren't going to have great onions every year. I can rarely get mine to store well so I usually chop them up and dehydrate them. I grow chives and garlic chives and use them both often. The only problem with garlic chives is that they will take over the world if you let them. You have to cut off the blooms before they make seed. They are impossible to weed out of the garden, and they grow in all the places you don't want them to grow. They are a great pollinator plant this time of year - all sorts of bees and wasps like the nectar. If you cut them back they will bloom up until we have a hard freeze. Now is the time of year that companies sell Walking Onion sets so I would look for them online or at a local garden center. I am also going to be buying a bunch of them. The few gardens I have seen them in locally, they seem to be doing just fine whereas all the other onions failed this year....See MoreOldDutch (Zone 4 MN)
7 years agolast modified: 7 years agoRedSun (Zone 6, NJ)
7 years agodrmbear Cherry
7 years agoDonna R
6 years ago
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