Growing Onions - Complete Guide for Your Garden

Onions and Their Cultivation

Onion (lat. allium cepa) is the foundation of every kitchen. It was known as early as 4000 BC, used by ancient Egyptians, Sumerians, Greeks and Romans. It is believed that onions originate from Central Asia. It is an inexhaustible source of vitamins and indispensable in the kitchen. Due to its healing properties, it is very popular in "grandma's" remedies and medicinal in every way.

When planting onions, we must be careful to harvest tasty and firm bulbs that will store well.

Types of Onions

• yellow - the most common, further divided into spring and autumn varieties, suitable for both hot and cold cuisine
• red - suitable for salads, adds colour to any salad
• white - mainly used in Mexican cuisine, very tasty
• shallot - has a higher sugar content, suitable for direct consumption
• Welsh onion
• pearl onion - forms a transition between onion and leek. Prefers sandy soils. Not suitable for storage, but for direct consumption. Plant at 20x5 cm spacing. Pearl onions don't need to be peeled.
• spring onion - green shoots are harvested, practically from any type of onion

Growing Onions

We highly recommend growing onions from seeds. The plants are of better quality, they are already firmly established as the seed settles in the soil, they are straighter and don't bolt early.

Onions need a sunny location, not direct light. The soil should be well-worked, aerated with a dose of nutrients. Be careful not to fertilise with fresh compost! It's better to use fertilisers for soil preparation specifically designed for feeding onions. We prepare the bed.

We can still mix gravel into the soil and work it in lightly so that the soil is really light and well-draining.

We plant onions in furrows that are 25-30 cm apart in rows 10 cm apart in one or two rows. Sowing takes place in March to a depth of 2.5 cm, ideally about 35-40 seeds per one-metre row. With March sowing, it's better to wait until heavy frosts that could damage germinated onions have passed. After thinning, 30 plants per one-metre row. We thin onions to approximately 4-5 cm apart. Don't throw away the young onions, they are a delicacy.

Winter varieties are sown in mid-August 1cm deeper. It's better to stick to the August/September timeframe (early sowing causes bolting, late sowing doesn't give enough time for plant development). By winter, plants should grow to a thickness of 5 cm.

Especially during germination, sufficient watering is necessary. Watering is appropriate until mid-July. Onions are not demanding in terms of watering. Thanks to their short growing season, we don't feed onions anymore, the nutrients from well-prepared soil are sufficient.

Onions are harvested from July to November.

Dry onions in a well-ventilated and dry room. Tie them in bundles of 10-15 pieces.

Like any vegetable, onions are affected by various diseases and pests, such as neck rot, onion downy mildew, and onion thrips.

The onion must first wilt in the bed, then we undercut it, meaning its root system is interrupted. After undercutting, the neck begins to tighten and after approximately two weeks the onion dries out. It's good to follow this process so that the onion is tasty and healthy even during storage.

The vitamins in onions could fill a separate chapter.

Vitamins

Onions contain vitamins A, B1, B2, B3, C, minerals, sulfur, phosphorus, calcium, iron, magnesium, iodine, sodium, and potassium. They stimulate and balance gland function. They help break down fats. They are rich in antioxidants, which protect cells against aging. They are important for proper growth of nails and hair. Also as an aphrodisiac. The elements in onions help maintain optimal pH of human tissues in the body.

Onions contain a substance called Allicin with antibiotic effects, thanks to which they are suitable for treating colds, respiratory pain, coughs, and vocal cord issues. It is recommended to mix chopped onion with sugar, let it sit overnight, and use the resulting healthy syrup. Onions can also be boiled in water, and this enriched water can be used for compresses for bronchial inflammation.

Interestingly, onions can be used to dye eggs, textiles, and wool. Onions can treat old picture frames. Clean stains on clothes, and more.

Onions in the Kitchen

Onions are the vegetable with the highest consumption per person. The taste ranges from sweetish to spicy. Many a housewife cries when peeling them, this is because onions release the unstable propylsulfenic acid. We can hardly imagine any dish without onions - they are delicious in spreads, on bread, in marinades, with meat, in goulash, in sauces, in mashed potatoes, in cabbage. They are an important component of traditional Czech cuisine, pork feasts, and soups.

Onions are loved and hated. How do you feel about them?

Author: Hana Michalíková