green onion experiment

[T]

Hi All,

My grand experiment.

I have a small area about 6' long by 1-1/2 ' wide that I let garlic, shallots, and onions just grow without picking them. I do this just out of curiosity to see what they will do when they go feral.

So, I purchased a clump of seven organic green onions (shallots) from the grocery store. They had about 1/4" root left on the bottom. I cut off the white parts (about 3") and planted them in my feral bin. The green tops will go to the dinner table.

They will probably die, but it will be interesting!

-T

[T]

Hmmmm. They have actually start to sprout.

[songbird]

T wrote: ...

hard to keep them going through the hot part of the season, they may grow a little and then die back to regrow again in the fall when it gets cooler and wetter again.

good luck! :)

songbird

[T]

They are about 4" tall now and loving the hot weather. I did not expect them to grow at all!

[T]

Now this I did not expect. I thought they'd just rot.

They now range from 6" to 10" tall.

The three in the foreground, I planted under the ground. The four in the background, I planted with a nub sticking up. It made no difference.

I did this because I can not grow green onions from seed for my life and I wanted to see what would happen.

Next experiment with them: cut them back (eat the tops) in the fall and see if they over winter! Maybe that is the way to start a self renewing crop!

[songbird]

T wrote: ...

so far the bunching onions i've been growing have not ever gone completely dormant even during the worst part of the last winter there were still some green stalks.

i tried to eat one last week, but this isn't a good time for them i guess because it was pretty tough.

i did harvest the seed tops and have tons of seeds. i'm going to plant some of them in the early fall to see how they do and if i can get a few rows of young plants going so i can eat them through the fall and also have them for the next spring too. i also have to divide up and replant the two clumps i have so i can have a few rows of larger plants going.

once i get enough plants going then i don't have to let the seed tops reach seed stage, but i do like watching the various bees visit them.

songbird

[T]

You are giving me an idea. These nubs I planted, if they go to seed, maybe they will grow where seeds from packets will not. (The Wally World seeds grew to about 1" and then died.)

[songbird]

T wrote: ...

once it cools off in the fall i'd be happy to send you some of mine to try out as i'll have plenty.

songbird

[T]

Hi Songbird,

That is a sweet offer.

So far the Wally World onion marbles are going strong!

Those four green bushes in the background of the yellow onions are my four Goji's.

The green scrub in the upper right of the red onions is one of my Choke Berries (not cherries).

I really want to try my hand at harvesting the Green Onion (scallions) seeds that I have in my feral bin.

I have about five three year now feral red shallots in the feral bin. I pulled two out and replanted the rest. They also grow in bunches. And this time the ones in the feral bin were YUGE, about the size of a tangerine.

-T

[songbird]

T wrote: ...

if you want larger onions eventually you will have to give them some more space between them (eat the thinnings :) ).

they're all good to eat, the smallest ones can be used for pickling or eating or replanted to give some flowers and new plants the next year.

the sweet giant onions here are starting to get bigger. we've even started picking a few tomatoes. i didn't expect that for a week or two yet.

songbird

[T]

I did that on purpose so I could eat the thinnings. And, well, to be honest, I have a black thumb and the more I plant the higher chance something will sprout. And, if wonder of wonders, I get lucky and a lot of them come up, I get to eat the thinnings and not have to wait to the end of the season the eat any of them.

I thinned last Thursday. This is a picture of them. They are on 6" square tiles.

Top to bottom would be Red Shallots (three year), Yellow Onions, Red Onions.

:-)

[songbird]

T wrote: ...

looks great! :)

songbird

[derald]

At this latitude, to obtain bulbs, I must grow so-called "short day" onions and, unfortunately, most of those are those humongous, bland, sweet varieties that are fit, in my estimation, only for catalog illustrations and definitely not for cooking. Nowadays, for general kitchen use, I grow medium-sized relatively strongly flavored red "Red Creole" that does well in our mild winters when planted in late Sepember or early October (depending on overnight lows) transplanted from their nursery container into a raised garden bed in December or January and ready for harvest in May or June. For green onion tops I just grab a pack of generic "white globe" (definitely not shallots) off the rack at the local handy dandy Home Desperate or Lowes. Every year, some of them bloom (which I leave for insects) and make seeds, that I don't save because they never, ever germinate. I never have "volunteer" onions.

[rust buckett]

When you say "feral bin", is this an area where you just let plants go to seed and replant themselves? Or is it a little more controlled than that?

[T]

Just let them do their thing and see what becomes of it. So the first one.