How to Grow a White Onion

White onions have a characteristic white flesh and skin, and are either globe- or disk-shaped. Mexican dishes frequently call for white onions, which are slightly milder than yellow onions, but cooks often substitute white and yellow onions for each other in many recipes. Grow large white Spanish onions or sweet white Walla Walla onions for mild sandwich slices and sandwiches, or grow white boiler onions for cooking whole in beef stews. Harvest white onions plants before they mature for use as scallions.

Onion seeds
Peat pots
Soil
Onion sets

Instructions

- 1
  Start onion seeds indoors by planting them in peat pots, allowing the greenery to grow several inches above the soil surface and develop a root network sufficient for sustaining the plant before transplanting in the garden, where bulb growth takes place. Plant onion sets and onion plants grown indoors from seed in the spring when the garden soil is thawed enough to cultivate. This varies with location. Cool, but not frosty, temperatures are beneficial to onion plants in the beginning.
- 2
  Transplant onions grown from seed and onion bulbs bought as sets, to an outdoor location. Dig shallow holes that are one or two inches deep in rows and put each individual plant or bulb 4 inches apart from each other.
- 3
  Feed the onions with fertilizer after having your soil tested for the needed nutrients.
- 4
  Water the plants regularly. The frequency of watering will depend on how fast the water evaporates from the soil. Onion plants must not be allowed to dry out completely.
- 5
  Watch for signs that the white onions are ready for harvest. The above-ground greenery begins to fall over when the bulb is ready. Skins will have have a papery feel.

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