This site is an archive of ChiotsRun.com. For the latest information about Susy and her adventrures, visit the Cultivate Simple site.
Thank you for all your support over the years!

Planting Onion Sets

April 10th, 2014

Last summer I harvested all my onions and set aside the super small ones to use as onion sets this year. I prefer growing onions from seed, but figured I’d rather plant these than spend the time trying to cut them up. I planted them shoulder to shoulder and plan on harvesting many of them as green onions. I will leave some to see if they bulb up or if they try to set seed. Some of these onions were from seed that I sowed very closely just to produce small onion sets.
planting onions
I love green onions and really like how set planted onions produce green onions really quickly. I have some in a planter in a sunny window that are almost big enough to start harvesting. Next year I hope to grow them all winter long so I can enjoy freely chopped onions with my breakfast regularly!

Do you like green onions?

6 Comments to “Planting Onion Sets”
  1. daisy on April 10, 2014 at 5:33 am

    I think I like planting them more than eating them, although they do bring a bit of pep to egg salad. My gardening coach plants them in a container, so it’s ring upon ring of deliciousness. So smart that you save the bitty ones for the next season. Enjoy!

    Reply to daisy's comment

  2. Nebraska Dave on April 10, 2014 at 6:28 am

    Susy, green onions are great in salads or just munching during a meal. I replaced my onions and cabbages yesterday. The onions were completely toast that I planted a couple weeks ago and the cabbages were still hanging on but just barely. I replaced them with strong health plants. The night time temperatures are not quite so harsh and have warmed up to not much colder than freezing. Last night was a low of 59. Ha, yeah, that won’t be lasting long. Another couple days the forecast is night time temp of 29 so I’ll be covering the plants that night. My old radish and lettuce seed has not sprouted so I’ll be replanting them as well. Two year old seed is a little bit iffy.

    It’s been a long winter. After working in the garden for about three hours yesterday, my muscles are hurting every where. It has taken me a week or two to get back into the physical gardening mode the last couple years.

    Have a great onion set planting day.

    Reply to Nebraska Dave's comment

  3. Andrea on April 10, 2014 at 7:55 am

    I’ll be planting sets since my onion seeds did not do very well. I have a few seedlings hanging on, but not many.

    A friend found Stuttgarter onion sets for me at a home and garden center.Yay! I plan to plant a few for green onion, but I hope they produce a decent crop of full-size onions to put up for the fall. We also have both red and white bunching onion seeds to try this year.

    I usually clip my chives for egg and potato dishes.

    Reply to Andrea's comment

  4. MN Reid on April 10, 2014 at 11:06 am

    I like green onions. My daughter’s six year old friend does as well. She will come over and pluck the green parts off like candy. Her name is Ally. It suits her since onions are in the ‘Allium’ family :)

    The onion plants I started from seed and put out two weeks ago I think are toast. I have many others inside that I will plant out soon.

    My Egyptian walking onions are starting to come to life. We usually eat a few of those as green onions, as well as the bulbs I forgot about scattered around my garden to deter bugs. I also grow green onions to clip off and lay on the soil for the same purpose.

    Reply to MN Reid's comment

  5. Joan on April 10, 2014 at 7:34 pm

    I LOVE LOVE LOVE green onions. One of my favorite veggies!

    I have green onions from lots of different sources:

    I planted some bunching onions probably five years ago and just leave them in the ground from year to year. They are already greening up (though the deer are eating them!). I probably ought to separate them or start a new bunch sometime soon…

    I also put onions that are starting to sprout into a bowl of water and cut the greens off of them in the winter. I usually can do this from about December on, depending on which types of onions are reaching the end of their storage life – right now I have three of them going and it’s probably time to switch them out for a few new ones.

    A couple of years ago I planted a few Egyptian (topset) onions, and they are growing great in the garden already. They’re in the raised beds and the deer haven’t discovered them yet. I’ll be able to harvest greens from them very soon.

    … I know, I should fence out the deer or chase them off, but they are so desperate this time of year and it was such a hard winter that I just can’t begrudge them whatever they can find. They need it worse than I do. Wildlife gardening…

    Reply to Joan's comment

  6. DebbieB on April 10, 2014 at 8:03 pm

    I do! I love green onions with eggs, in grits, in salads, in tacos and burritoes, and as garnish for soups and stews. I have a lot of them growing from seed this year, I love being able to snip what I want and come again.

    Reply to DebbieB's comment

About

This is a daily journal of my efforts to cultivate a more simple life, through local eating, gardening and so many other things. We used to live in a small suburban neighborhood Ohio but moved to 153 acres in Liberty, Maine in 2012.

Admin
Read previous post:
Plant for Multiple Harvests

This week my 5x5 Challenge Garden finally thawed out enough to plants a few things. It doesn't take long for...

Close