Onions are easy to grow and do not require much effort to look after. The following is a step-by-step guideline on how to grow the onion plants.
- Ensure that gardening materials and tools required for planting the onions are available. There are various types of onions, one can choose when planting. They can start with onion seeds or onion seedlings. Onion seeds take time before maturity, thus for quick results, use onion seedlings.
- The soil used should be soft soil or loam, since onions tend to do well in such types of soil. When preparing the soil, ensure that the PH value of the soil is between six and eight.
Onion growing in garden
- When planning the site, ensure the spot chosen is adequately exposed to the sun. In addition, ensure that the soil drains well.
- Generally, onions will grow in most types of soil. If the soil is heavy, add fertilizers or lime to soften it. When adding manure, do this in advance such as two or three weeks before planting.
- Choose the type of onion to plant. Onions can be grown from either seeds or sets (bulbs). When planting the onion from seeds, the seeds should be planted in 2 cm deep holes, with about one inch separating a set of seeds from the other.
- When planting the seeds in rows, keep the rows at least 30cm apart. Ensure the soil is moist and well watered before sowing takes place.
- Also for onion seedlings, sow them in rows of at least 30 cm apart. Ensure that the hole dug for each onion set is enough to cover the bulb. The tip of the onion should be just visible on the surface.
- To ensure the growth of high quality onions, water the plants regularly. Make sure that the water penetrates the soil to reach the bulb. What one needs to know is that onion plants needs about one inch of water every week.
- Do not use too much water as the onion bulbs will rot.
- As the onion plants grow, thin them regularly. Thinning of the onions creates room for more onion seedlings to be planted. Thinning also enables the planted onion seeds to increase in size instead of remaining small.
- Harvest the onions a week after their tops begin to fall off or if the color of the tops turns to yellow.
Onions are among common vegetables grown in home gardens mostly during spring. They come in handy in most culinary dishes both cooked and raw. The preparation, sowing, positioning, soil type, tending and harvesting processes are quite easy to follow.