Veggie PAK
Chillin' In The Garden
Does anyone have experience with how to successfully plant walking onions?
Planting Egyptian Walking Onions
- Thread starter Veggie PAK
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digitS'
Garden Master
I've grown them on 3 occasions now. Planted the topsets last fall and they are just about to make their own topsets, right now!
And, that was the idea: I don't remember having ever eaten the little bulblets. I've gotta say that I prefer chives to walking onions when they both show up green for the new growing season. Walking onion scallions have always been too hot for me!
What was the question . . . ?
Oh, I don't remember anything special that I've done at planting -- just treat the sets like the sets of the other onion types. I know that some people store the sets and plant them at various times. I'm not sure why they do that.
Anyway, my 2 little patches will soon get quite messy as the plants begin to fall down - otherwise known as walking. I don't intend to let them do that this go-round! I'll cut back all the leaves and save the sets.
I really, really hope they are tasty because I seem to have gone to a little bother again with these things. That bother might just be a result of simple senility.
Steve
And, that was the idea: I don't remember having ever eaten the little bulblets. I've gotta say that I prefer chives to walking onions when they both show up green for the new growing season. Walking onion scallions have always been too hot for me!
What was the question . . . ?
Oh, I don't remember anything special that I've done at planting -- just treat the sets like the sets of the other onion types. I know that some people store the sets and plant them at various times. I'm not sure why they do that.
Anyway, my 2 little patches will soon get quite messy as the plants begin to fall down - otherwise known as walking. I don't intend to let them do that this go-round! I'll cut back all the leaves and save the sets.
I really, really hope they are tasty because I seem to have gone to a little bother again with these things. That bother might just be a result of simple senility.
Steve
journey11
Garden Master
I had a small handful of bulblets that have grown and "walked" themselves all over the corner flowerbed I put them in. They seem really happy there! Mine are in a shaded spot that only gets morning sun and is sheltered from the prevailing winds (they'll stay green throughout all but the hardest part of winter, so I can still cut scallions from them most of the year). The spot is also pretty good soil, with decaying leaves, etc.
Other than that, my advice would be to plant them somewhere that doesn't get dried out and baked easily by the hot sun. Somewhere out of the way where they can do their thing and spread without causing you too much trouble. They're not invasive, but they will just keep going if you let them. You just poke the bulbs right into the soil where you want them, leave about 2/3rds of the bulb sticking up out of the soil. When they plant themselves, they literally just fall over and go from there. No need to bury them!
Other than that, my advice would be to plant them somewhere that doesn't get dried out and baked easily by the hot sun. Somewhere out of the way where they can do their thing and spread without causing you too much trouble. They're not invasive, but they will just keep going if you let them. You just poke the bulbs right into the soil where you want them, leave about 2/3rds of the bulb sticking up out of the soil. When they plant themselves, they literally just fall over and go from there. No need to bury them!
digitS'
Garden Master
I don't mean to go negative on walking onions 
. I have trended towards the "non-perennial" over the years because I hate how perennial weeds show up in them. Things like quack grass and bindweed !. Most of my perennial plants are in the yard even tho' there's a fair amount of space amongst them for annuals each year.
The veggie gardens are "clean cultivation" things. Of course, that leaves me looking at bare dirt for 6 months out of the year.
When I first grew walking onions it was in a little perennial part of the veggie garden. They made a mess - I didn't eat many of them - they went. Then I tried them here in the yard near a flower bed. They made a mess - I had trouble spraying the flowers nearby without getting it on the onions - I didn't eat many of them - they went.
When I first grew walking onions, I'd never eaten a shallot. In my not so humble opinion - Everyone Should Grow Shallots! I've had them for well over 20 years now. They survive just fine in a basket in the garage each winter. Come spring, out they go into the garden! I'll harvest my shallot crop in just a few weeks!
I may treat the walking onions much like shallots and harvest a crop from them, put the sets in storage over the winter, and replant in the spring! I don't know if I can keep the walking onion sets that long in storage! I am afraid that I cannot. Aaand, I don't remember having ever eaten any of the "crop" of topsets!
The "bother" that I'm going to is mostly the anticipation that I will enjoy the bulblets and find good use for them in the kitchen. I already know that I will grow impatient leaving any plant in the garden 12 months out of the year if I can find a good place for it somewhere in the yard. (I can already imagine the quack grass & bindweed!) There's frustration potential here! It reminds me of my ill-advised experiment to grow 2 crops of potatoes in the same year.
I don't grow garlic either :/ - so, you see where I'm coming from? I'll go back to my little barren corner of the world and play with my flats and ponies now.
Steve
. I have trended towards the "non-perennial" over the years because I hate how perennial weeds show up in them. Things like quack grass and bindweed !. Most of my perennial plants are in the yard even tho' there's a fair amount of space amongst them for annuals each year.The veggie gardens are "clean cultivation" things. Of course, that leaves me looking at bare dirt for 6 months out of the year
.When I first grew walking onions it was in a little perennial part of the veggie garden. They made a mess - I didn't eat many of them - they went. Then I tried them here in the yard near a flower bed. They made a mess - I had trouble spraying the flowers nearby without getting it on the onions - I didn't eat many of them - they went.
When I first grew walking onions, I'd never eaten a shallot. In my not so humble opinion - Everyone Should Grow Shallots! I've had them for well over 20 years now. They survive just fine in a basket in the garage each winter. Come spring, out they go into the garden! I'll harvest my shallot crop in just a few weeks
!I may treat the walking onions much like shallots and harvest a crop from them, put the sets in storage over the winter, and replant in the spring! I don't know if I can keep the walking onion sets that long in storage! I am afraid that I cannot. Aaand, I don't remember having ever eaten any of the "crop" of topsets!
The "bother" that I'm going to is mostly the anticipation that I will enjoy the bulblets and find good use for them in the kitchen. I already know that I will grow impatient leaving any plant in the garden 12 months out of the year if I can find a good place for it somewhere in the yard. (I can already imagine the quack grass & bindweed
!) There's frustration potential here! It reminds me of my ill-advised experiment to grow 2 crops of potatoes in the same year.I don't grow garlic either :/ - so, you see where I'm coming from? I'll go back to my little barren corner of the world and play with my flats and ponies now.
Steve
patandchickens
Deeply Rooted
I have a few. I keep meaning to put the bulblets in jars of pickles or something, but thus far haven't. I do value them greatly as perennial and very weather-tolerant green onions. They're sometimes too 'hot' for me to want to eat raw that way but mostly I use green onions (scallions) cooked anyhow and I like how they work out for that.
I didn't do anything special for planting them, I just, uh, planted them
-- they get late afternoon shade, it isn't the least-clayey part of my garden, but they are protected somewhat from early and late season freezy winds. They seem to like it there. I do not get they impression they are especially finicky critters.
Good luck, have fun,
Pat
I didn't do anything special for planting them, I just, uh, planted them
-- they get late afternoon shade, it isn't the least-clayey part of my garden, but they are protected somewhat from early and late season freezy winds. They seem to like it there. I do not get they impression they are especially finicky critters.Good luck, have fun,
Pat
lesa
Garden Master
The year I planted mine, the chickens "unplanted" them. I didn't have much hope, but in the spring they came right up. Finicky they are not. Still waiting for the bulbs to form....
journey11
Garden Master
Mine have finally spread enough to harvest some of the bulblets this year. I plan to do a couple pints just pickled and also add a few to my green beans when I can them. I love onions and garlic of all kinds. Can't get much hotter than pickled ramps!
damummis
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I just threw them in as bulblets off a friend's. Thanks for the pickling idea. I always have too many.
