Gurney's Guide to Onion Varieties for Your Garden (2024)

FAQs

Gurney's Guide to Onion Varieties for Your Garden? ›

Summer Onions are both categorized by variety and by season. Vidalia, Walla Walla, Cipollini varieties are inherently sweet onions. These varieties have become extremely popular and for good reason. They are good cooked but they are very mild and are excellent eaten raw.

Summer Onions are both categorized by variety and by season. Vidalia, Walla Walla, Cipollini varieties are inherently sweet onions. These varieties have become extremely popular and for good reason. They are good cooked but they are very mild and are excellent eaten raw.

Definitely the easiest type of onions to grow are scallions (Allium fistulosum), also called green onions, says Farley. They also are sometimes called bunching onions. They're ready to harvest in about 60 to 85 days.

Yellow onion 'Setton'

Yellow onions are the most commonly used type of onion. They have a strong flavour, a yellow skin and crisp white flesh. They have many uses in the kitchen, and are especially useful as a base for stews, curries and sauces. Sow seed or plant sets in spring.

A single Onion bulb or a single Onion seed will produce one Onion. The size of the Onion will vary depending on the variety and the growing conditions. The cheapest way to produce your own Onions is to grow them from seed, a single packet of seed is often sufficient to supply Onions for the year.

Basically, if you're going to eat an onion raw, the white onion is what you want to reach for. And while they're pretty mild on their own, you can further tame their flame by slicing one thinly and giving it an hour-long soak in cold water—they'll be so sweet, you can practically eat them like a salad.

Only found in red or purple onions, anthocyanins are powerful antioxidants and pigments that give these onions their reddish color. Quercetin. An antioxidant flavonoid, quercetin may lower blood pressure and improve heart health ( 19 , 20 ).

Plant onions in early spring once the ground is workable. In-ground gardens and raised beds are both excellent options for growing onions. Space onion plants 6 inches apart in rows that are 12 inches apart. Grow them in a sunny spot that has fertile, well-drained soil with a pH of 6.0 to 6.8.

While there are many plants you want to grow near onions, there are a few that should definitely be avoided. Onions should not be planted with peas, beans, asparagus, or sage. Onions can stunt the growth of these crops and also negatively affect their flavor.

Onion sets are small dried onions grown from seed the previous year, but not allowed to mature and instead kept dormant until the following spring when they are meant to be planted. This is the easiest onion to grow for beginner gardeners but the variety of onions are limited to just yellow, red/purple, or white.

Which onion has the most flavor? ›

White Onions: A stronger, spicier, more pungent flavour than yellow onions. More oniony, for lack of a better term, than yellow onions. They don't hold up as well when cooked, as they tend to fall apart. Red Onions: The salad onion.

Plant onions in early to mid spring in most climates. In warm climates, plant onions in autumn. Harvest onions between summer and autumn in most climates. In warm climates, harvest onions in late spring.

1015Y Texas Super Sweet Onions are Texas's most famous onions and are also some of the sweetest! It's called the 1015Y in honor of the ideal date to plant the seed (Oct 15th), and Y stands for yellow. Whether you are a novice or beginner, the Texas Super Sweet Onions are the perfect onion to add to your garden.

Onion varieties are available when purchasing plants. Select healthy green transplants and plant them 1 to 1 1/2 inches deep in rows 12 to 15 inches apart. To produce large, dry onions, place the plants 2 to 3 inches apart. Plant them as soon as the ground can be worked in spring.

There's quite a bit of misinformation online about cutting onion tops to produce a larger onion. We highly recommend not cutting your onion tops if you want to produce large onions. The onion tops are necessary for the plant to generate energy to make a large bulb during the bulbing phase.

You can still add onions to your patch. While it's smart to stay away from bulb onions in June because there isn't a long enough growing season for them to reach maturity, this is not the case with bunching onions (otherwise known as green onions or scallions).

Sweet Onions – Walla Walla and Vidalia are the most common kinds of sweet onions. These onions lack the sharp, astringent taste of other onions and really do taste sweet. They are fantastic thinly sliced and served in salads or on top of sandwiches.