What Is the Easiest Way to Fertilize Onions?

Onions grow in many varieties, from large to small and sweet to tangy and hot. All of them always grow as root crops. These cool-season starters need moderate, cool spring starts and warm summer growing and harvest seasons. As root crops, they also require extremely loose soil for root and bulb growth, with the right nutrition for establishment. Accomplish both tasks with rich compost and appropriate fertilizer at planting.

Garden fork
Organic compost
Fertilizer
Mulch

Instructions

- 1
  Start onions seeds, transplants or sets in spring as soon as the ground dries. Onions do best with 55-degree Fahrenheit starts and long growing seasons.
- 2
  Put onions in garden sites with full sun every day and quick site drainage. Onions rot and fail in standing water, muddy soil or poor air circulation.
- 3
  Amend the plot to a depth of 10 inches. Till the natural soil and add 5 to 6 inches of rich organic compost for loose consistency and long-lasting nutrition. Turn 5-10-10 or 8-16-16 fertilizer into the soil per manufacturer directions to give onions more starting nutrition.
- 4
  Plant onion seeds, sets or transplants at 3 inches in the row with 12 to 18 inches of space between rows. Water the onions with 2 inches of water to dissolve the fertilizer for use.
- 5
  Put onions on a schedule of 2 inches of water every week to maintain soil moisture. Lay 2 inches of organic mulch on the soil around the plantings to keep soil moist and warm and to eliminate weed growth. Onions don't require further fertilizer applications.

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