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Growing winter onions in 13 steps for an early harvest
Growing winter onions guarantees you'll be the first to bring onions back to your kitchen from your vegetable garden. Winter onions are fairly large, hardy onions that can withstand low temperatures. Most of their growth occurs after the winter, but it's important that the plants develop a good root system before winter. This gives them a vegetative head start compared to the summer onions we plant out in February or March. You can grow winter onions by sowing them, but it's easiest to use sets or seeding onions. You can find the varieties available on this website here .
Step 1 - Start on time
Start preparing your soil in late summer or fall. You can plant your onion sets as early as August, but most gardeners wait until October when the weather has cooled down a bit. You can even wait until November, but the soil shouldn't be compacted by frost.
Step 2 - Choose a good spot in the vegetable garden
Choose a sunny spot in the garden. Winter onions are hardy enough to survive harsh weather conditions, but they still prefer a sunny spot.
Step 3: Loosen your soil well
Loosen the soil. You can do this very well with a spading fork or a pitchfork. Onions thrive in loose, well-draining soil. People with loamy soil have an advantage over those working in clay or sandy soil. If you have sandy or clay soil, work plenty of well-aerated compost into the soil where you plant your onions (see step four). Fresh manure or compost is far too potent for onions and will not produce good results.
