Growing onions.

[Aerows]

I picked up some bulbs to plant alone with the cucumbers and tomatoes. I live in the Deep South, not quite as Georgia, but good enough.

Here is my question - if you plant a bulb, how many onions do you get out of it? I'm sure it is a silly question, but as a novice I've hunted high and low for information.

[NRaleighLiberal]

1. Howdy! One onion bulb gives you one onion....

The exceptions are garlic (one clove gives you a bulb with multiple cloves) and shallots (ditto).

There is a variety called a walking onion, but it isn't easy to find (an old, old type) that gives multiple bulbs.

So you plant a small onion, and you harvest a large onion!

[Major Nikon]

2. It depends on the variety

While all onions can be propagated by bulbs, some will go to seed and some will produce multiple bulbs on their own. Since you live in the South and I assume bought your onion sets locally, I suspect you have a variety which will produce one onion from one bulb which are the most common you'll find. One advantage (or perhaps disadvantage) to multiplying onions is they will continue to come back year after year unless you dig up all the bulbs.

[Aerows]

3. Oh jeez. So essentially the pack of bulbs I picked up

Will just grow into bigger bulbs.

That's disappointing.

[Major Nikon]

4. It's much easier to grow them that way

Just push them an inch or so into well tilled soil, keep them fertilized and watered, and in a few months you'll have a nice crop of onions. Also multiplying onions don't get nearly as large.

[Curmudgeoness]

5. Don't be disappointed.

You will harvest a lot more onions from that starter set in weight. Growing anything yourself is satisfying. So much more that buying a bag of onions at the store.....and cheaper.

Experiment by leaving a few there to flower and see if they go to seed and produce from seeds in upcoming years. I bought some "nodding onions" as a decorative plant, and I don't know if they are edible so haven't tried them, but boy have they multiplied by leaps and bounds. I will have to try eating one because it would be a good idea to start harvesting them.

[Raine1967]

7. This is what I was about to say.

Onions like raised beds and loose soil.

[Aerows]

8. Thanks for the encouragement

I'm obviously a novice at gardening, but my father is pretty good at it and he is helping me. I am going to plant the onions, just to see how it goes. I love onions, and vegetables, so I decided to take it up and try my hand at it.

[Curmudgeoness]

10. You probably have better help and advise

from your father than you will get here. If he has been doing this a long time, and does well, learn all that you can from him. And listen. I always regret the things that I did not learn from parents and grandparents.

[Aerows]

11. He actually helped me plant them all tonight :)

They look pretty awesome. He's a very good gardener. Not just the onions, but the tomato plants, too

I love my little garden!!!!

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

6. I've been growing green onions all winter on my window sill

They flowered a few weeks ago, and I think I got a few seeds out of the deal. I tried onion sets last year, and wasn't impressed with my yield, but then my soil mostly sucks, even when I amend it.

[Aerows]

9. I'm not a pro by any means

I'm kind of a novice but my father assures me that if we build a trellis box, they will grow like crazy. Plus, I'm a daughter that gets to hang out with her dad

[Aerows]

12. I am STUNNED by how my onions are taking off

I thought maybe a couple of the little bitty bulbs would go, but they got so big, I had to get a box planter for them. There are green heads that look like wheat grass after just this much time! I have 40 of them in the planter and it seems like all of them are trying to burst out and get the sun.

I will have another box if I need one if they get too crowded, but I'm so thrilled. My little garden is growing!

[mopinko]

13. saved seeds for a great, sweet red.

have little sets to sell at my plant sale.

i think where you are you can let some flower and just bury the head after the seeds ripen, and you will have a nice little patch in the spring.

[Aerows]

14. So I would plant the seeds in the winter

and they would come up in spring?

I'm doing bulbs on this batch.

[mopinko]

15. yeah, ya gotta start somewhere

i'm just saying that where you are they will self seed. you can give them a shove by pushing the seed heads into the ground in the late fall. or just scatter them and rake them in.
this means you have to leave a few for seed, tho.