Onion cultivation: from sowing to golden onion

Onions are one of the most essential vegetables in our kitchen. Soup, salad, roast – a rare dish goes without it. Growing your own onions in a cottage or backyard is quite a feasible task even for a novice gardener. Most often, onions are grown from seedling – small bulbs obtained in the previous year from seeds (blackberries).
This method is easier and faster than growing from seeds in one season, and allows you to get a good harvest of strong, healthy bulbs. The main thing is to know a few basic rules of planting and care. Let's walk this path from a small seedling to a golden turnip.
The way of the vegetable: sowing is the key to success
Success largely depends on the quality of the planting material. When choosing a seeding onion, pay attention to the size of the bulbs. The optimal size is 1.5-2.5 cm in diameter. Too small a sowing may not produce a full-fledged bulb, and too large (sampling) often goes into the arrow (flowering), especially with early planting.
The bulbs should be dense, dry, and without signs of rot, mold, or damage. Before planting, it is advisable to warm up the crops (for example, keep them in a warm place for a couple of weeks or for several hours at a temperature of about 40 ° C) to reduce the risk of shooting, and soak them in a weak solution of potassium permanganate or a special fungicide for disinfection.
Soil preparation and planting: create comfort
Onions like sunny, well-ventilated places and fertile, loose soil with a neutral reaction. It is better to prepare the garden in autumn by digging up the earth and adding humus or compost (but not fresh manure!). In spring, the soil is loosened, and if necessary, a complex mineral fertilizer is added.
Sowing is usually carried out in late April – early May, when the soil warms up to +10 ... +12 ° C. The planting scheme depends on the variety and the desired size of the bulbs, but usually 20-30 cm is left between the rows, and 8-12 cm in the row between the bulbs. The planting depth is such that 1-2 cm of earth is above the bulb shoulders. It is important not to "stick" the seed by force, but to gently push it into the prepared grooves with the bottom facing down.
Care and waiting for the harvest: watering, weeding, protection
Onion beds are easy to care for, but they require regularity. Highlights:
- Watering. Onions need watering in the first half of the growing season, when the feather is actively growing and the bulb is forming. They are watered about once a week, abundantly, but without allowing stagnation of water. 3-4 weeks before harvesting, watering is completely stopped so that the bulbs ripen and store better.
- Weeding and loosening. Weeds are onions' main competitors for moisture and nutrition, so the beds need to be weeded regularly. At the same time, the row spacing is loosened to provide air access to the roots. This should be done carefully so as not to damage the bulbs.
- Top dressing. If the soil has been well refilled before planting, the onion may have enough nutrition. If necessary, 1-2 top dressing can be carried out: the first with nitrogen fertilizers (for example, mullein infusion or urea) 2-3 weeks after germination, the second with phosphorus–potassium fertilizers during bulb formation.
- Protection from diseases and pests. The main enemies of onions are onion flies and peronosporosis (powdery mildew). For prevention, crop rotation is observed, the crop is disinfected, the beds are powdered with ash or tobacco dust, and special preparations are used if necessary.
When the feather begins to turn yellow and settle (usually in late July – August), it is a signal that the onion is ripe and ready for harvesting.
Add your own onions to the soup and in reserve.
Onions are harvested in dry weather, carefully digging in with pitchforks. Then it needs to be dried well – first in the garden (if the weather permits), and then under a canopy or in a ventilated room. In well-dried onions, the neck becomes thin and dry, and the covering scales become dense and rustling.
After drying, the feather is cut off, leaving a neck 3-5 cm long, and the onion is stored in a dry, cool place. Homemade onions seem especially tasty and fragrant. And most importantly, it is a guarantee of quality and benefit for the whole family. 1xbet Casino - New players can get a welcome bonus of up to €1500 + 150 Free Spins at 1xbet Casino, and by using the promo code for 1xbet for registration of account, users will enjoy access to many other daily and weekly offers like day specific deposit bonuses or casino tournaments. The casino at 1Xbet is split into Slots and Live Casino sections. The slots area features a multitude of games gathered from over 45 software providers like Microgaming, Nextgen Gaming, Rival, Quickspin, Evoplay just to name a few.