How to Grow Bunching Onions From Seeds

Milder than bulb-forming onions, bunching onions (Allium cepa) bring a mild onion flavor to soups, dips and casseroles. Bunching onions are mild enough to include on a raw vegetable relish tray. These onions resemble leeks more than bulb-forming, cooking or slicing onions. The lower part of their strap-like, green stems are usually included in the usable portion. Plant bunching onion seeds in early spring, as soon as the soil can be worked. The onions take about 60 to 120 days from germination to maturity, depending on the variety. Bunching onions are very hardy, surviving light to moderate frosts.

Garden spade
Peat moss
Compost
Garden rake
Garden trowel
Garden hoe
Water-soluble, all-purpose fertilizer
Hose-end sprayer

Instructions

- 1
  Prepare the soil in the vegetable garden. Loosen the row for the bunching onions by turning it with a garden spade. Incorporate peat moss and compost by putting a 1-inch layer of each on top of the soil. Dig them in by turning the soil with a shovel a second time. Rake the row smooth when you're finished.
- 2
  Make a small furrow the length of the row with the end of the handle of your garden trowel.
- 3
  Plant bunching onion seeds by sprinkling them into the furrow. Push soil over the top of the seeds so they are buried 1/4 to 1/2 inch deep. Firm the soil with your hand or the back of a hoe.
- 4
  Water the newly planted seeds with a hose nozzle set to a fine mist. Check the seed row daily, and mist as necessary to keep the soil moist until the seeds germinate in approximately seven to 14 days.
- 5
  Thin the seedlings to stand 1 inch apart when they are approximately 2 to 3 inches high. Use the thinned onion seedlings the same way you would use chives.
- 6
  Water the onions regularly if rainfall is scarce. Ensure they receive 1 1/2 inches of water per week.
- 7
  Spray the foliage with water-soluble, all-purpose fertilizer every 10 to 14 days, beginning when the seedlings are 6 inches high. Mix the fertilizer with water, and apply it to the foliage with a hose-end sprayer. Spray the plants early in the morning so they can dry before exposure to the midday sun.
- 8
  Harvest bunching onions when they reach the diameter of a pencil. Grasp the onion close to the ground, and pull straight upward. Remove every other onion when harvesting. The space you leave between onions will enable those in the ground to continue growing.

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