How and What to Grow in a Kitchen Garden of One Acre (10th Ed)/Onions
ONIONS.
In raising onions in quantities the practice of late years has been to grow the crop from seed in one season, instead of the method formerly almost universally practiced in this section, of raising and keeping over sets to form the next year’s crop. This latter method is now only practiced to save labor in small gardens and to bring a few onions in for use early in the season.
To raise a satisfactory crop the ground must be free from weed seeds; it must be made as rich as possible and have constant cultivation from the time the seedlings break through the ground until the bulbs begin to ripen. The soil must be plowed, harrowed and raked, until it is in the finest possible condition to receive the seed, and it is important to select a plot for this purpose that has been kept free from weeds the preceding season. Root crops are the best to precede onions, as they not only leave the ground free from litter, but also, if they have been properly cultivated, leave the soil in fine tilth.
In our kitchen garden I would sow the seed in drills, twelve to fourteen inches apart, and cultivate with the wheel hoe; in field culture, or raised more extensively in the garden, plant in rows as closely as they can be worked with the cultivator, which, if it is provided with very narrow-bladed teeth, can be run through any rows where the horse can walk. For the kitchen garden, make the surface fine with a sharp steel rake, and if no drill is at hand, take a rake handle or blunt stick, and, drawing it along the garden line, scratch a drill about an inch deep. Sow the seed thinly, say an inch apart, but if there is reason to doubt the freshness of the seed, sow it thicker, so that a good stand may be assured. When the onions are an inch high, they should have their first working. Follow the wheel hoe or cultivator with a narrow-bladed hoe, not wider than an inch and a half at the cutting part of the blade; it must be sharp and lightly handled, just loosening the ground and cutting off any stray woods. If there are no weeds the soil can be quickly loosened with a sharp steel rake. They should be worked every eight or ten days from this point until they begin to ripen; if it is neglected for longer periods than these, the gardener will rue it in days of back-breaking labor on hands and knees. When the young onions have made leaves two or three inches in height, they should be thinned out to from four to six inches apart in the rows, according to the size of the bulb made by the particular variety planted. The seed for onions grown in this way should be sown as early in the spring as the soil can be gotten into the proper fine condition, so that they may make as strong a growth as possible before the hot summer weather ripens them off. As they begin to ripen, all those with thick necks should be pulled and used upon the table, as they will not ripen properly, and if put away with the good bulbs will start all to rotting. There is a theory common with old gardeners that, by bending the tops over when they begin to ripen, the bulbs will be increased in size and will ripen more quickly; personally, I have tried it frequently, and have never been able to observe any difference in those bent and the ones left to ripen in the natural way. As soon as the bulbs are well matured, take them up at once, as a few rainy days might start them to growing again if left in the ground; pull off all the tops and roots which adhere to the dry bulbs and spread them thinly on the barn floor or on the floor of a cool loft. When it becomes too cold to let them remain longer in this position without danger of freezing, I put them in peach baskets, the stripped sides of which allow a free circulation of air, and store them in a cool, well-ventilated cellar, where we try to keep the temperature just above freezing by admitting air whenever possible, as it takes but very little warmth to start them to growing, and then they soon become unfit for use. If the gardener saves his own seed, the finest and best-shaped onions should be laid aside for planting out in the spring, for this purpose.
Where the crop is raised from sets it is not necessary, though quite desirable, to have the soil made as fine as for the seed bed. As the small onions are set in, planting at the proper distances apart, almost all the cultivation can be done with the narrow onion hoe, and if it is regularly attended to at proper intervals no hand work is necessary. The onion is a hardy bulb, and the sets can be planted as soon in the spring as the ground can be gotten into proper condition; this makes an important feature in the earliness of the crop, as the sets have several weeks the start over the onions raised from seed. For the very earliest onions, or those used when the bulb and neck are about of equal thickness early in the spring, and which go by the name of scallions, the sets are planted in October and allowed to remain in the ground all winter, so that they are ready for use almost as soon as the spring opens, two weeks’ growth sufficing to bring them to a proper size. Where the main garden crop of these fragrant bulbs is raised from seed, enough sets should be planted to make an early supply for the table; if no sets are at hand in the fall, to plant for the spring crop of scallions, they could be grown by sowing the seed about a month earlier than you would plant the sets for the same purpose.
In sowing seeds for sets the same directions apply as given for the crop of bulbs, excepting that the seed is sown much more thickly, so that the bulbs will touch each other and stand two or three wide in the row. If they do not seem to be making the proper growth as the season advances, they should be thinned to the proper extent to enable them to grow to the right size, one-half inch in diameter, though my own trouble is that they usually grow too large; to remedy this when they are nearly the proper size I allow them to become choked with grass and weeds, which checks their growth, but when this is done they must be watched that this mass of stuff does not rot them off when ripe. I think a better way would be to go along the row with a straight-edged hoe or spade and cut off some of the roots. The main object in having the sets of this small size is that they shall not run to seed when planted out in the spring. Any sets which exceed three-quarters of an inch in diameter should be used for pickling or cooking. When the sets begin to ripen it will sometimes facilitate the process to bend all the green tops over close to the bulbs, as it helps to dry and shrivel the tops more quickly. When thoroughly ripe they should be gathered at once, the tops and roots pulled off, and should be spread out and stored for winter in the same manner described for the large onions. Any of the sets that persist in growing and not drying properly, should be thrown out, or they will spoil the whole crop. If a suitable cellar or loft is not available for storing the bulbs where they will be sure not to start into growth, they may be wintered on the barn or loft floor, covering with hay as the cold weather advances. The hay should be only two inches thick at first, but should be increased to one foot in thickness as the season advances, and in the spring should be removed by the same graded process.
VARIETIES OF ONIONS.
YELLOW GLOBE DANVERS ONION.
Yellow Globe Danvers.—This is a splendid variety, and is the most popular and profitable kind to grow for market. It is similar to the Yellow Danvers as ordinarily grown, excepting in shape, which is much finer, in my opinion. No one can fail to be pleased with this fine variety when well grown. It is quite early, and is one of the very best keeping kinds.
Large Red Wethersfield Onion.
Large Red Wethersfield.—A strong grower and produces inmenso crops of large, fine bulbs. It is rather flat in form, deep purplish red on the outside and a much lighter shade inside. It has a strong flavor, and is very solid, making an excellent keeping and shipping sort.
White Globe.—One of the handsomest onions grown, beautiful in shape and color, having a clear, white skin; the flesh is fine grained, of mild flavor, and the bulbs arc of good keeping quality.
White Silverskin, or White Portugal.—This is an old and favorite variety, being very desirable for planting in the family garden; the flavor is the mildest of the American varieties; the small onions are very fine for pickling. I think this variety
SILVERSKIN, OR WHITE PORTUGAL ONION.
should be marketed as early as possible, as with me it is not a good keeper.[1]
ITALIAN VARIETIES OF ONIONS.
Giant Red Rocca.—These onions are of large size, handsome appearance and mild, delicate flavor. In this variety we have an onion which attains a weight of from one to two pounds under ordinarily good culture, and of most handsome shape and appearance, the outer skin being always bright red, while the flesh is white, mild and pleasant.
Earliest White Queen.—This variety does not grow to the large size of the other Italian kinds, more resembling our American Silverskin in size and appearance, but has the great advantage over the latter variety (which takes two seasons to attain the same size), of remarkably quick growth, while the flavor is equally, if not more, delicate. The bulbs are flat, pure white and about two inches in diameter. It is the finest variety for pickling grown. Sown in February, they will produce onions early in the summer, while if sown in July, they will be ready to harvest in the fall, and will then keep in splendid condition throughout the winter.
GIANT RED ROCCA ONION.
WHITE QUEEN ONION.
Giant Yellow Rocca.—This variety is similar to the Giant Red Rocca described above, except in color, which is a clear golden yellow. It is this variety which is the real “Spanish Onion,” so generally sold at the fruit stands in the cities.
Burpee’s Mammoth Silver King.—This I believe to be the handsomest variety of onion grown, as I think the white-skinned varieties the most attractive. The bulbs are slightly flattened, but are very thick through, averaging five to six inches in diameter, and have been grown to the enormous weight of over four pounds to the single bulb, while two-pound bulbs are frequently produced under fair culture. The skin is a beautiful silvery white; the flesh is even whiter, while the flavor is very mild and pleasant, the Italians eating them as we do apples.
- ↑ Other distinct and good varieties of American onions are Southport Yellow Globe and Large Red Globe, Yellow Strasburg or Dutch, and the Extra Early Red. For more complete information, invaluable to all who propose growing onions on a large scale for market, see the new book, “How to Grow Onions, with Notes on Varieties,” an exhaustive treatise written by T. Greiner, of New Jersey, Col. A. H. Arlic, of Oregon, and W. Atlee Burpee.—Ed.