I planted out my honions today…they did look decorative in the fruit bowl, with their lovely fresh leaves, but they were about to “turn” and needed planting…

I have two styrofoam boxes, and 7 honions: 5 browns and 2 reds…the styro boxes are: (1) 22 cm deep, 50 cm long and 20cm wide; (2) 17cm deep, 33cm long and 24cm wide.

All 7 honions were planted into box (1), but I’m wondering if that’s too “close” and perhaps moving the two reds to box (2) might be more the go?

depends upon the heaviosity of the honions required

Really? So the more space they have, the bigger the honions will grow?

Heaviosity isn’t an issue but survival is…I want these honions comfortably bedded so they can be fruitful…

Dinetta said:

Really? So the more space they have, the bigger the honions will grow?

Heaviosity isn’t an issue but survival is…I want these honions comfortably bedded so they can be fruitful…

Well yes, if you space your onions correctly they will reduce the chance of competing weeds as well as grow evenly but only if you are able to provide the same constancy of water supply that onions may get in the ground.

I can miss a watering of onions in the ground but I cannot afford to miss a watering in a foam box.

They’re in the boxes to make sure they’ll get watered…so I can monitor them and move them if it gets too hot…

Haven’t planted out my tomatoes and associated herbs yet…nor my 3 sisters garden…

I have a friend who grows most of his veg in poly boxes but he has almost always got a hose in his hand.

I used a lot of foam boxes when I had many thousands of native tubestock in them ready for sale.. I found that if one wasn’t scrupulous and even then, that it made the back yard look like a potting mix that contained styrene.
It has taken me years to get rid of it.

My mother’s chooks used to peck at it for some reason…so we made sure they couldn’t get at it, particularly as the chooks were eaten once they were too old to lay…

I know what you mean tho’, as I moved a box that hadn’t been moved for a couple of years and some styro fell out of the bottom…

only have about 4 boxes: this is for the stuff that I have trouble growing in the garden either because of heat problems or watering problems…easier to get MrD to “water the pot plants” than to get him to put the hose onto the garden…the area is more defined…

I should add, MrD is only requested to do the watering when I am away from home…

Well yes, if you space your onions correctly
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Getting back to the honions…how far apart is “spaced correctly”, in general…6”? 12”? closer?

Well 4” is fine that way they can all touch and be 4” wide

roughbarked said:

Well 4” is fine that way they can all touch and be 4” wide

Okies, I’ll leave them how they are, then…

Thanks, RoughBarked…

Dinetta said:

roughbarked said:

Well 4” is fine that way they can all touch and be 4” wide

Okies, I’ll leave them how they are, then…

Thanks, RoughBarked…

You can plant them as far apart as you like but in truth I feel that they respond to being closer together and fight against weeds.

They’ve got a good inch of sugarcane mulch…hopefully the weeds will stay away…

they’ll be fine then. ;)

This is going to sound odd, and I do apologise.. why would you plant your honions out.. do they multiply once in the ground?

Firestorm said:

This is going to sound odd, and I do apologise.. why would you plant your honions out.. do they multiply once in the ground?

They’re a bulb, like garlic…

Firestorm said:

This is going to sound odd, and I do apologise.. why would you plant your honions out.. do they multiply once in the ground?

I hope so, Firestorm…

Onions grow in size as a single bulb and the top dies down. This is when they are harvested for storage until eaten.
If you leave the onion in the ground expecting it to multibly or indeed plant unused ones back in spring, all that will happen is thet the onion will generally exhaust itself making seed. In itself not a bad thing as onion seed is expensive. Onions planted back will be useful as both spring onions before they start to flower and a source of free seed. When they have finished all this there is very little left of the original onion. The way to multiply onions is from seed.

So they don’t multiply like garlic, RoughBarked?

Correct me if I’ve misunderstood: my best options from my honions are (1) harvest the leaves occasionally as salad greens (2) allow to bolt to seed and then harvest these seeds?. This is a whole new area as I have never grown, nor seen grown, honions…

Dinetta said:

So they don’t multiply like garlic, RoughBarked?

Correct me if I’ve misunderstood: my best options from my honions are (1) harvest the leaves occasionally as salad greens (2) allow to bolt to seed and then harvest these seeds?. This is a whole new area as I have never grown, nor seen grown, honions…

Onions may multiply in that each onion may contain more bulbs but this is in their second season and each of these bulbs exists only to make seed unless you pick them as “spring” onions.
Spring onions sown from seed are a different proposition in that they are specialised small onions but that is all.
Harvesting leaves isn’t a problem at any time.
Yes it is wise to collect your seed.

Lovely! Thanks for your interest RoughBarked…or is that Thanks for your patience??

:D

quite amazing what one can learn hanging around here..

Firestorm said:

quite amazing what one can learn hanging around here..

and it’s all first-hand advice too…

..we’re not proud and we admit it if we get something wrong…

Plus, you saw how diplomatic RoughBarked was when explaining the outcome of what I am trying to do wit mine honions…we may not have the range of topics that other gardening forums have, but the forumites here are supportive…

Dinetta said:

Firestorm said:

This is going to sound odd, and I do apologise.. why would you plant your honions out.. do they multiply once in the ground?

They’re a bulb, like garlic…

They are a different kind of bulb though…

fresnel_chick said:

Dinetta said:

Firestorm said:

This is going to sound odd, and I do apologise.. why would you plant your honions out.. do they multiply once in the ground?

They’re a bulb, like garlic…

They are a different kind of bulb though…

Apparently…and I got it all wrong about honions, as you will see with the rest of the thread…

who said you got it all wrong?

Dinetta said:

fresnel_chick said:

Dinetta said:

They’re a bulb, like garlic…

They are a different kind of bulb though…

Apparently…and I got it all wrong about honions, as you will see with the rest of the thread…

I can’t see that you have done anything wrong. You planted the onions which had sprouted on you, and will be able to use them as ‘spring onions’ or let them set seed which would enable you to grow more plants. IIRC onion seed isn’t cheap, so you have actually done the right thing!
Unless, of course, you thought that planting the onion would make the bulbs multiply? I don’t think that they work that way, but I could be wrong. :S

fresnel_chick said:

Dinetta said:

fresnel_chick said:

They are a different kind of bulb though…

Apparently…and I got it all wrong about honions, as you will see with the rest of the thread…

I can’t see that you have done anything wrong. You planted the onions which had sprouted on you, and will be able to use them as ‘spring onions’ or let them set seed which would enable you to grow more plants. IIRC onion seed isn’t cheap, so you have actually done the right thing!
Unless, of course, you thought that planting the onion would make the bulbs multiply? I don’t think that they work that way, but I could be wrong. :S

I got one wrong too. I planted out Kol rabi with the thought it grows like a beetroot. Wrong! It now has the bulb forming just above the ground. It’s not a root vegetable at all. Heaven only knows what they taste like. I’ll give it a go though.

pomolo said:

fresnel_chick said:

Dinetta said:

Apparently…and I got it all wrong about honions, as you will see with the rest of the thread…

I can’t see that you have done anything wrong. You planted the onions which had sprouted on you, and will be able to use them as ‘spring onions’ or let them set seed which would enable you to grow more plants. IIRC onion seed isn’t cheap, so you have actually done the right thing!
Unless, of course, you thought that planting the onion would make the bulbs multiply? I don’t think that they work that way, but I could be wrong. :S

I got one wrong too. I planted out Kol rabi with the thought it grows like a beetroot. Wrong! It now has the bulb forming just above the ground. It’s not a root vegetable at all. Heaven only knows what they taste like. I’ll give it a go though.

they taste like eating brocoli or cabbage stems

roughbarked said:

pomolo said:

fresnel_chick said:

I can’t see that you have done anything wrong. You planted the onions which had sprouted on you, and will be able to use them as ‘spring onions’ or let them set seed which would enable you to grow more plants. IIRC onion seed isn’t cheap, so you have actually done the right thing!
Unless, of course, you thought that planting the onion would make the bulbs multiply? I don’t think that they work that way, but I could be wrong. :S

I got one wrong too. I planted out Kol rabi with the thought it grows like a beetroot. Wrong! It now has the bulb forming just above the ground. It’s not a root vegetable at all. Heaven only knows what they taste like. I’ll give it a go though.

they taste like eating brocoli or cabbage stems

I’m not sure that’s good RB. There is always the old soups and stews anyway.

Good morning to you by the way.

pomolo said:

roughbarked said:

pomolo said:

I got one wrong too. I planted out Kol rabi with the thought it grows like a beetroot. Wrong! It now has the bulb forming just above the ground. It’s not a root vegetable at all. Heaven only knows what they taste like. I’ll give it a go though.

they taste like eating brocoli or cabbage stems

I’m not sure that’s good RB. There is always the old soups and stews anyway.

Good morning to you by the way.

good morning to you too :)

sunny warming up day out there :)

yes too many people don’t use such things in soups and stews. This is good food for bowels.

pomolo said:

fresnel_chick said:

Dinetta said:

Apparently…and I got it all wrong about honions, as you will see with the rest of the thread…

I can’t see that you have done anything wrong. You planted the onions which had sprouted on you, and will be able to use them as ‘spring onions’ or let them set seed which would enable you to grow more plants. IIRC onion seed isn’t cheap, so you have actually done the right thing!
Unless, of course, you thought that planting the onion would make the bulbs multiply? I don’t think that they work that way, but I could be wrong. :S

I got one wrong too. I planted out Kol rabi with the thought it grows like a beetroot. Wrong! It now has the bulb forming just above the ground. It’s not a root vegetable at all. Heaven only knows what they taste like. I’ll give it a go though.

G’day Pom. Kohl Rabi is nice. It’s similar in flavour to cabbage, but is quite crunchy. Nice in coleslaw and salads, or used in stir-fry

fresnel_chick said:

Unless, of course, you thought that planting the onion would make the bulbs multiply? I don’t think that they work that way, but I could be wrong. :S

Yes Fresnel_Chick, I thought the bulbs would multiply!

d’oh?!?

N E ways, thanks to RoughBarked talking me through this, I won’t be disappointed at season’s end and am already harvesting one or two leaves a day for the salats…

:)

Dinetta said:

fresnel_chick said:

Unless, of course, you thought that planting the onion would make the bulbs multiply? I don’t think that they work that way, but I could be wrong. :S

Yes Fresnel_Chick, I thought the bulbs would multiply!

d’oh?!?

N E ways, thanks to RoughBarked talking me through this, I won’t be disappointed at season’s end and am already harvesting one or two leaves a day for the salats…

:)

;) well yes your bulbs will multiply by the seeds they make ;)

actually leeks do multiply by having small shoots/bulbs to the side. i seem to have a perpetual leek bed and i’m sure they were planted two years ago.

pepe said:

actually leeks do multiply by having small shoots/bulbs to the side. i seem to have a perpetual leek bed and i’m sure they were planted two years ago.

You can get perrenial leeks.

Mine Honions are doing so very well, I’m glad I took the leap of faith and planted them…they are giving me a steady supply of shoots for the salads…I need to repot my garlic chives as they have not had their potting mix freshened for about 2-3 years…

One of them is trying to flower already: do I let this happen ahead of the much hotter days (and nights) to come, or do I cut off the flower stalk and continue to harvest the leaves?

Dinetta said:

One of them is trying to flower already: do I let this happen ahead of the much hotter days (and nights) to come, or do I cut off the flower stalk and continue to harvest the leaves?

for seed saving it is best to save from the plant that holds off flowering the longest, to keep that trait. So I would cut of the flower stalk from this one and keep the seed from the last one to flower.

bluegreen said:

Dinetta said:

One of them is trying to flower already: do I let this happen ahead of the much hotter days (and nights) to come, or do I cut off the flower stalk and continue to harvest the leaves?

for seed saving it is best to save from the plant that holds off flowering the longest, to keep that trait. So I would cut of the flower stalk from this one and keep the seed from the last one to flower.

Thanks, BlueGreen…as you could probably tell from this thread I am totally ignorant about growing honions. Hopefully I will have better luck with these than I did with the potatoes…if I tie a bit of rag around each honion as it attempts to flower, this should help to keep track of the “last to flower”…

One has died, but I think it was too long in the planting (i.e. too long between shooting and being planted out)…

Dinetta said:

One of them is trying to flower already: do I let this happen ahead of the much hotter days (and nights) to come, or do I cut off the flower stalk and continue to harvest the leaves?

its a mighty strange question if these are onions – since one doesn’t harvest onion leaves – mmmm???

Dinetta said:

One of them is trying to flower already: do I let this happen ahead of the much hotter days (and nights) to come, or do I cut off the flower stalk and continue to harvest the leaves?

Eat the whole thing as a spring onion before the flowering stage both makes the whole oniion go woody and wastes the existing bulb.

pepe said:

Dinetta said:

One of them is trying to flower already: do I let this happen ahead of the much hotter days (and nights) to come, or do I cut off the flower stalk and continue to harvest the leaves?

its a mighty strange question if these are onions – since one doesn’t harvest onion leaves – mmmm???

These are honions that I planted, expecting them to grow and multiply like other bulbs…wrongo!!…so I am harvesting the leaves whilst the bulb grows bigger and bigger, apparently…and eventually I will let them flower and I will collect the seeds…this is apparently my best outcome from this venture…I always leave 2 complete leaves on each plant, then they get harvested as the new ones grow…they give a mild onion-y taste to the salats…

roughbarked said:

Dinetta said:

One of them is trying to flower already: do I let this happen ahead of the much hotter days (and nights) to come, or do I cut off the flower stalk and continue to harvest the leaves?

Eat the whole thing as a spring onion before the flowering stage both makes the whole oniion go woody and wastes the existing bulb.

Yes I suppose: but “wasting the existing bulb” isn’t an issue just now, as I am having so much fun observing these honions…

I had a brain snap, and bought honion seedlings…I suppose you’re going to advise me that honins are a winter crop? Bearing in mind that my summers get as hot as Adelaide’s (but last a lot longer)…

B-I-L in Cambooya harvests his in November….

Here is a good web-page for me…

Dinetta said:

Here is a good web-page for me…

Unh, trying to give up coffee here…

http://members.iinet.net.au/~msheaton/Organic%20Gardening%20Down%20Under/how_to_grow_onions.htm

can grow leeks and garlic but haven’t got the hang of onions yet. I think because they are such a long term crop they get second rate position so don’t do as well as they could. maybe when my new garden bed is up and running I will give them another go. Thing is I doubt I could grow as many as I use and they are not that expensive to buy. Got 10kg bag for 5 or 6 bucks the other day. Or I could have bought a 2kg bag for about the same price!!

bluegreen said:

can grow leeks and garlic but haven’t got the hang of onions yet. I think because they are such a long term crop they get second rate position so don’t do as well as they could. maybe when my new garden bed is up and running I will give them another go. Thing is I doubt I could grow as many as I use and they are not that expensive to buy. Got 10kg bag for 5 or 6 bucks the other day. Or I could have bought a 2kg bag for about the same price!!

the best day of the year to sow onion seed is a couple of weeks before the shortest day of the year because you want to be transplanting them out on the shortest day of the year if you want to harvest proper onions. transplanting can be done any time of the year but don’t expect to harvest big onions.

Different matter if you are going to use them like chives.. but then why not plant chives.?

Thanks RoughBarked, BlueGreen…

I am amazed that honions grow on top of the ground, I thought I would have to plant them under the ground…don’t forget that I am doing this for experience…although B-I-L grows honions, I don’t visit them all that much and haven’t been there for a harvest for 10 years (when I didn’t take much notice, not being “into” gardening back then…)

Dinetta said:

Dinetta said:

Here is a good web-page for me…

Unh, trying to give up coffee here…

http://members.iinet.net.au/~msheaton/Organic%20Gardening%20Down%20Under/how_to_grow_onions.htm

that article says it all. they grow in summer alright. normally i plant in spring. the trouble with the autumn planting is that they go to seed in spring – as some of mine are doing now.

pepe said:

Dinetta said:

Dinetta said:

Here is a good web-page for me…

Unh, trying to give up coffee here…

http://members.iinet.net.au/~msheaton/Organic%20Gardening%20Down%20Under/how_to_grow_onions.htm

that article says it all. they grow in summer alright. normally i plant in spring. the trouble with the autumn planting is that they go to seed in spring – as some of mine are doing now.

Thanks for the vote, Pepe!