Spring Onions - Grandstand

DESCRIPTION

A medium sized member of the onion family (alliums), spring onions can be harvested regularly for their mild and tasty leaves for years with the right maintenance.

POT CARE AND PLANTING

Spring onions are very easy to care for in a pot - transplant into a larger pot or a garden bed within 7 days. At this size, the soil level should be about 10mm below the branching of the outer leaves. This distance will increase on its own over time.

WATERING

Spring onions are a light water consumer - water them less than other things in your garden, once per day or every other day (early morning or late afternoon is best in summer). Make sure the soil has a chance to look dry on top before watering again.

SUN EXPOSURE

These guys aren't fussy and will carry on growing with a few hours to a full day of sun. Too little sun or too much water will make the leaves go yellow - if that happens, you can try watering less, and if that doesn't help, you can easily move them to a sunnier spot.

COMPANION PLANTING

Spring onions are a great vegetable for filling tiny gaps between your larger plants, and can be a helpful pest-deterring neighbour for a number of different vegetable families. I recommend planting them individually or in easy to reach clumps throughout your garden - just keep them away from legumes (beans, peas) and asparagus, as they can affect the growth and flavour of these vegetables when planted too close together.

HARVESTING AND EATING

You can harvest spring onions at any time of year, but to have consistent access to them over time it's important that you never harvest this vegetable by pulling it out of the ground. A sharp knife or a pair of scissors is recommended, to cut the spring onion off 1cm above the soil level. Within a few weeks, depending on the weather, the leaves you harvested will be replaced by a new set which you can harvest again, and so on. Use the leaves raw, sliced finely as a garnish, or add chopped spring onion to stir fried dishes, soups, savoury pancakes, tempura, or lightly charred on the barbeque resulting in unbelievable sweetness. During each summer, each plant will try to go to flower, but allowing this will end that spring onions life cycle. You can prevent this by cutting off the flower spike just like any other time, when you see it forming and looking like a thickened leaf with a tear drop shaped tip. Doing this restarts the onions life cycle for a new year. If you do let it go to flower, you have the rare chance to pick the tiny white flowers and use them as a delicate oniony garnish for any savoury dish.

SEED SAVING AND PROPAGATION

If you don't cut the flower spike off, it will get much larger and eventually open into a globe shaped 'inflorescence' made up of many small white flowers. Wait until the flowering finishes and the resulting three sided seed pods start to go brown, before cutting off the inflorescence and drying it whole in a paper bag. Break up the dried flowers and discard the larger pieces of material - these seeds will only be good for 1-2 years, but it's easy to keep growing large numbers of live plants all year round. You can re-sow your own crop right away, or save your spring onion seeds over the winter in something airtight. They're not too hard to germinate, but it takes some time and a little practice as they grow slowly and are prone to overwatering, which rots the roots. Cover the seeds with about 5mm of very well draining soil and keep just moist, when daytime temperatures are above around 12 degrees. It can take a few weeks for all the seeds to germinate.