5 Tips How to Grow a Ton of Onions in One Container or Garden Bed

It's time to peel back the layers and expose my secret to

grow

ing

onions

, but before I do just a quick safety message... If you're going to eat

onions

on a slice of bread or a roll, be sure to put them underneath. the sausage. Okay, with that out of the way, good morning, I'm Mark from Self Sufficient Me and in this video I want to show you my top five

tips

on how to

grow

a ton of onions in a round raised bed like this one. ...Let's get into it. I like to grow our own onions because there is something special about a freshly harvested crispy onion and we also grow them without any chemicals so they are organic and I think that makes a big difference if they are fresh and organic.

Tip number one: prepare the

garden

bed. Onions, like most vegetables, like fertile, well-draining soil and, as you know, I love growing in these raised beds, not only because it's easier on the back when preparing, maintaining and harvesting. harvest, but also allows for excellent drainage that the onions enjoy. It helps prevent them from rotting in the soil, especially in hot, humid climates. You don't want to over-fertilize the soil before planting and I don't add any additional feed during growth, but I prepare the bed with a generous layer of compost if I do. I don't have enough, I'll buy it and those bags pre-mixed with a little extra fertilizer are perfect;

Otherwise, you can add a small handful of your own fertilizer or well-rotted manure, such as chicken manure that has been composted. below and it is not too fresh, but don't overdo it because if you give too much fertilizer, especially at the beginning, you will get a lot of green

tips

and not enough bulb. I always like to add mulch as it reduces weeds. especially when growing onions because it can be tedious to weed between thin onion plants and the weeds will compete strongly with them. Sow shallowly, not too deep, and cover lightly, keeping the soil moist until it begins to sprout, then water as needed.

Sow a generous amount of onion seeds to allow for poor germination, as you can always transplant seedlings from areas that have germinated well to sparse areas. In fact, in this bed I planted two types of onions, one brown and one red, but the red one did not sprout. I suspect the seed was a little old, so I simply transplanted the excess brown onions to fill the gap. Tip number two: grow at the right time. Here in our subtropical climate, I like to sow our onion seeds towards the end of autumn, in fact the last month of autumn, that way I get them to grow and grow through the winter into spring and then harvest them at the end of the season. spring or simply in the summer before the humidity and summer rains arrive.

Onions hate moisture, they will rot the bulbs, make them slimy, not grow very well or seed too early, so if you live in a warmer climate, plant them in the driest part of the year in cold climates, it is easier to grow onions because they quite like colder climates. You plant them during spring or early spring, grow them until summer, and harvest them at the end of summer. Tip number three: Growing the right type of onion is probably more important than growing at the right time, although these two points are closely related, so let me explain.

I prefer to grow fast or early maturing varieties because we grow them during the winter. When the days are shorter at that time of year, the growth habit of onions is greatly influenced by daylight hours and depending on the variety, they may not perform well or even fail completely if grown the wrong type at the wrong time, for example, late-ripening varieties. which happen to be excellent keepers or last a long time in the pantry need long hours of light, sometimes up to 15 hours a day, while faster growing or quicker bulb varieties like these Hunter River Browns only need about 10 hours of sunlight, so when buying onion seeds, think about your climate and particularly the hours of light at the time of year you are growing them, then combine that with the type of onion.

That being said, I don't want to completely discourage you from trying different types of onions, even late-ripening ones at the wrong time of year because I can tell you that I have grown all different types of onions, late-ripening ones, at the wrong time of year. year and I had some pretty good successes, so sometimes when the books say you can't try it anyway. because you will be surprised what you can grow, there are other ways to cheat too, as you may have noticed, I have a different type of onion growing in the middle here, right in the center of these brown onions, it's called Egyptian. walking onions and grows very well in warm climates, it is a type of clump onion, sure it doesn't form bulbs exactly like normal onions, but they can still be used the same way and taste great once I harvest these brown onions and Do That Soon in tip number five, these Egyptian onions will eventually take over the entire bed and give us onions all summer long.

Other, easier-to-grow varieties, such as shallots that grow in clusters or rounder chives, can be just as useful as a whole-rounder for their excellent flavor or as a substitute when larger bulb types are difficult to grow. Tip number four: Add them now, this may seem counterintuitive because most onion growers or experts will tell you that you should thin your onions and spread them out. They are spaced so well 25 centimeters apart so they have a chance to grow independently, get bigger bulbs and they will grow better that way, but that's not something I don't do according to the book, I'll thin them down to a point or so anyway. more like extended.

I pull them out if I see a bunch of seedlings or clumped together or if I need to fill in gaps like I said before, but generally the only thinning we do is early harvest for eating on the go. Look, if you want to thin them out and grow them by the book, do it because it's a proven growing method, but I didn't make this one of my top tips for growing crowds just because. I did it. Because it works, growing onions in groups like this in a raised bed means you can grow more in a smaller space, helps suppress weeds, and allows for an earlier harvest, as we'll discuss below.

Tip number 5: When to harvest, you know, this is a very popular question about onions and rightly so, as some people get confused, there are some myths circulating that you need to break off the tops of onions or bend them to prepare them for maturation. and cure, but that is not correct at all, the truth is the short answer is that you can harvest onions at any time, especially when you grow them this way and naturally thin them as they grow, so you are harvesting these immature . onions, within a few weeks of planting them, you start harvesting onions, you actually know people call it thinning and in a situation like this, right up to the ripening point, which is now, you're still selecting onions with green tops and They are simply There is magic in the kitchen, so harvest them at any time, but when they are really ready and ripe you will be able to see the tips naturally bending.

Some have gone to seed, so that's a telltale sign...the tips will start to die. It's not a disease or anything, it's just the normal progression of growth, some of them will go to seed, usually the biggest ones will go to seed first and what I like to do is let some of them go to seed, just you need one or two and they will do it. Become the seed for next year, next season and the rest you will harvest, so let's do it now and there you have it, what a fantastic harvest in such a small sized bed.

I'm really into it and now what I'm going to do is we're going to put them on our homemade drying rack in the sun for about three or four days and let them completely die and crisp and cure and then they'll be perfect for storing in the pantry long term and using them. during the rest of the year. For the next few months, those were my top five tips on how to grow a ton of onions in a small round raised bed like this one. Remember to prepare the bed, grow at the right time, grow the right type, mound them, and know when to harvest. all those things right and you will grow a lot of onions like me.

If you liked this video, give it a big green thumbs up and subscribe if you haven't already. Thank you very much for watching. Goodbye, for now, unreal, now everyone. What you have to do is cook one of those sangas and put the sausage on top of those onions to cover all those SST problems, see you, Rippa... ;)