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Re: Onions

Square Foot Gardening List - http://www.flinet.com/~gallus/sqft.html

On or about Sat, 11 Mar 2000 19:46:54 -0500, Cheri wrote:

>I am sq. footing it again (2nd year) and am going to plant onions for
>the first time.  I have some really silly questions since I have never
>planted onions before.
>What are advantage/disadvantage in planting from seed vs. sets. 

The advantage in planting seeds instead of sets is variety. Oft times
the person selling the sets at her hardware store or garden center
can't even tell you what variety is being sold. When you plant your
own seeds, you have a wide selection to choose from. 

Disadvantage is that seeds take a relatively long time to germinate
and grow to transplant size. They are more fragile than common
transplants such as tomatoes and broccoli. They require 10 or 12 weeks
before the last frost to get up to transplant outdoors size.

> When
>you plant one of these little onions that all the garden stores are
>selling, does this just grow and eventually you harvest it or does it
>spread and multiply?

You are correct about the onion sets. They are actually very young
onions that were stopped in their growth last year and dried, to be
planted this year. One set = one onion; they do not multiply. Stick
them in the ground with the point sticking up, many also advise
leaving just a bit of the shoulder showing above ground. They will
grow into good, solid onions by harvest time. 

A third option you didn't mention has become available in the past few
years, and that is buying onion plants from seed catalogs. These are a
good deal. You get more varieties to choose from and you avoid the
hassle and tedium of growing from seed. I think this is the best
compromise, especially for beginners or non-seed starters.

> Sorry for the ignorance - all my books talk as if
>I should know what I am doing already :)

Yeah. Don't you just hate it when a book you are supposed to learn
from just makes you feel dumber?
 - jcl -

"The only things worthwhile in life are music and cats."
                                       - Albert EInstein


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