Gardening Tips > May > ‘How to’? Grow Onions in Your Garden

‘How to’? Grow Onions in Your Garden

Why not have a go at growing your own at home? Onions are a versatile crop, they are easy to grow and tend to be frost tolerant so a late sown crop can easily overwinter.

Onions can be raised from sets (especially raised small onions) or from seeds. Those from sets will mature before those from seed and tend to be more resistant to mildew and onion fly. Growing from seed is a good economical option and there tends to be more choice available.

At Perrywood we have a wide range of onion seeds available, including ‘Ailsa Craig’. This variety is a good choice for the show bench, but equally impressive in the kitchen with its lovely mild flavour.

Onion seed ‘Ailsa Craig’ – lovely mild flavour

Here’s our simple guide for growing onions from seed:

Position: Open, sunny site with well-drained fertile soil

Preparation: Dig the soil in advance of sowing and incorporate plenty of well-rotten organic matter (preferably in the autumn), then in the spring, just before sowing, rake the soil to a fine tilth

Sowing: Direct sow in spring at a depth of 1cm and a distance of 30m between rows. Once germinated, thin the seedlings to 4cm apart. Onions will take around 12 to 18 weeks to mature. It is possible to sow onions in late summer or early autumn, they overwinter and take up to 48 weeks to mature

Care: Regular hand weeding or hoeing is important because onions do not like competition! Make sure the onions are kept watered but don’t overwater as this can lead to downy mildew

Harvest: Late summer

TOP TIP: Try growing mint alongside your onions to deter onion fly.

If you don’t have time to start from scratch you can always buy the Perrywood Grown onion plants we have for sale instore.

Facebook Instagram