what to do with onions

My neighbor gave me a sack of onions , they are some she bought at the store and forgot about ,now the onions is mostly dried up but it has nice tall green stems just wondering what would happen if I planted them in a container for now . any one know? I have only bought the small onion sets to plant before , can I get onions from these fully grown ones?

I let some of my multiplying onions sit a little too long and thought they weren't any good anymore. I planted the good ones and threw the withered looking ones by my garden fence where they are all growing and look as healthy as the "good" ones I actually planted. I'd say go ahead and give your onions a try--you don't have anything to lose.

I think I will give them a try can't hurt nothing.

Give em a try, can't hurt anything. I threw out some for compost and when I went to dig my beds last week they were sprouting roots.

It's hard to kill onions - you can even grow them from their own discarded roots:

http://www.ehow.com/how_5104871_grow-onions-chives-discarded-roots.html

I have some leeks that died during the Winter that sprouted new babies. I transplanted them to another bed and they are still growing!

sounds good to me, forgive my ignorance but what exactly are leeks I have heard of them .

I'd cut the tops off and plant the onions with the cut-off tops just above the ground. Even if they don't grow new onion bulbs, they're sure to grow fresh green onions - which are good in salads, salsas, and lots of things.

I have taken green onions, purchased at the grocery store, kept in the fridge for awhile, then chopped the green tops off (for salad), planted the white part and they grew. A renewable resource.

Yesterday I noticed that the unsuccessful onion patch from last year seems to be back. I haven't examined them, but I'm hoping they will be usable in some way :)

humming
leeks are related to onions. They look like green onions on steroids that have spent too much time at Golds Gym. They are much milder than onions. They are really very very lovely to cook with. My 10 loves them. For Rosh Ha Shana I make these gorgeous crispy fritters with them that are gone the second they hit the table. In quiche they are incomparable. Sauted they are great in omlets. I grow the heirloom variety. They are really, really ancient going all the way back to and previous to the Exodus. Remember how the Hebrews complained about all the goodies they missed from Mitzraim (Egypt) , onions, leeks, cucumbers, melons... and G-d got fed up with their complaining and sent them manna...? Yep I cook them a lot on Pesach (passover) too.

They are very easy to grow and go in early. Come to think of it, I have about a hundred I've got to get in now. I like to sprout them in the house and plant them out about now. You've got to try them. I like the old French varieties.

I have a thing about the really old varieties of most veggies because a lot are being lost for stupid things like they grow too tall and no one wants to be bothered cutting the stakes for them. Seriously, a large amount of the English garden peas were lost because during WWII and after there was no one to cut the stakes for them as all the men were off to the war and so they selected for the shorter varieties that didn't need staking. If you really work hard you can find these old varieties and save them. Think of the varieties that have been lost because they didn't can well and so the big companies like Heinz, Del Monte, Campbells, etc. had new varieties hybridized and the home gardener started growing them. Its really ashame.

I remember the old english peas my friends grandmother had the I rember how tall they grew. I think leeks sound yummy I would like the milder flavor is there a certain place you order yours from?

Bakers and Seed Saver's have some, also Heritage Seed Library in England has real old ones, but you need a membership and are limited to 6 packets a year. They have stuff going back to the Romans. You have to try leeks sauted in butter with mushrooms in a white wine sauce stuffed into puff pastry and baked. Oh my L-rd!!!!!! Its beyond decadent! I spoon the extra sauce over them on the plate. I know, I know, but I've been known to spend my whole take home on one truffle too. What can I say? Its all my mother's fault. She married a guy who not only grew up on a farm, but was a Cordon Bleu trained chef. I had no hope, no hope...

I planted onion seed, leek seed, & multiflier onion seeds in the same bed. It seems one of those came up & are growing, but I don't know which ones they are. I cut the green tops off a bit, & the stalks are growing flat. Can anyone tell me which onion is growing?

The Leeks in pastry with butter sauce sound yummy I have never tried a mushroom ,do you go mushroom hunting? what part of the leek is best ?

It depends on what you're making, but usually its the long white to pale green part. You want to wash it real well because sand and dirt can get down inbetween the leaves especially the ones that have been mounded up to blanche them. My uncle who was Polish used to go mushroom hunting, but I never have. My husband has put his foot down on that one. Fortunately, we live in the DC area so we can get just about anything as long as we're willing to pay for it. There are so many specialty stores here that nearly anything is available. You can also go on line too. I'm the "Queen of Internet Shopping". Markys in Brooklyn (great online shop) has a great section for FRESH truffles and caviar and some of the really good specialty Italian deli stuff. I like them because they have a big kosher section and they ship anywhere.

The leek packets done with chantrelles or porcini are to die for by the way. Oh and you can stew them with chicken and mushrooms in white wine and cream. You do it with a whole chicken and serve it up at the table in a chafing dish. It not only looks spectacular, but the texture is like silk velvet and the scent when the lid is lifted wafts over the whole table and is beyond heavenly. Serve it with asparagus tips or buttered peas and brand new baby potatoes. OOO la la!

oh my I like just about anything withchicken in it ! I am so ignorant but what is kosher does it pertain to certain spices ?
when you order on line your truffles and such do they arrive pretty fresh?
Behillman , I have never planted onion from seed is this your first time and if its not have you had much luck with seed. I am very interested to see how they do.

This is the first time I planted onion seed, & they came up & are doing very good. I planted the seed in November & they overwintered just fine. They were just skinny little things at that time, but now they are starting to grow, especially since I trimmed the tops. They are growing really good now. I have transplanted some & they are doing fine.

Kosher refers to the Jewish dietary laws as put down in the Torah (Old Testement). It tells us what we can and cannot eat. Marky carries a lot of things that have kosher certification meaning they have been produced according to the rules. Everything comes wrapped, chilled and practically before you can shut off your computer. I've been ordering from them for years and have always been happy with them.

I don't know anyone who doesn't like chicken. I remember the REAL chicken like my mother grew in her backyard when I was a kid. Now that was chicken!!!!!!

behillman - I'm going to have to try growing onions from seed.

Hmm... are there any intermediate day types that can be purchased as seed?

Honeybee, I've seen seeds of Candy onions, an intermediate type and my most favorite bulb onion, even surpassing (in my opinion/taste) Vidalia/Granex types. You may want to start there. Unfortunately I believe it'll be too late to start onions from seed in our area but you might consider it this coming fall.

Shoe (who still have 100+ onion plants left to set out, and leeks, too. Yummy!)

Yehudith- can you give me a link to the place in Brooklyn, I have been looking for a good place for fresh truffles..I think I may wanna pick your brain for a good recipe...the chicken sounded great.

I am trying a few varieties of onion from seed and leeks too, I also am trying "egyptian walking onions" that I got small seedlings of on ebay, I potted them up and put them on the counter, not near a sunny spot, and they are doing really good. They will be going into the greenhouse next weekend. I also found mushroom grow kits...they are really easy...I have shitakii, and enoki that grow indoors, and I have morels to do outside when it warms a little. I can grow and dry or freeze them, for as much as I use them, it was worth the $20 or so to get the kits.

Dee

Here you go, promise you won't hate me.

http://www.markyscaviar.com/buy-on-sale/french-fresh-winter-perigord-black-truffles-whole-09-11-oz.html

These are fresh and aren't in yet, but they have plenty of tinned.

Horseshoe - yes, I was thinking of sowing onion seed this fall. "Candy" is also my favorite. I have purchased and planted two bunches from Dixondale already - roughly 200 onions. If you should see a vendor that sells this seed, please let me know. I'm guessing there are no heirloom varieties of intermediate day types. It would be nice to save my own seed from year-to-year like I do garlic.

I'm going to experiment with planting onion bottoms this fall to see if I can get some "Candy" clones!

What I've seen by planting onion bottoms is only green top growth, which is fine with me because I love all things onions. Don't expect a new bulb to come from it. What happens if you don't harvest it (the tops) though is it will want to immediately go to the flowering stage; the onion thinks it is in its second year so wants to go to reproduction.

I once even tried planting carrot tops. Remember as a kid we'd save the top of a carrot and put it in a shallow bowl of water and watch the greenery grow back? I planted several tops in soil several years ago, they grew a bit then flowered. What little bit of carrot root grew was very woody and inedible. But it was a fun experiment!

Back to alliums, I've saved leek roots to force into regrowing, those did much better than the onion roots/bottoms.

Look what I just found on the Web! Here ya go, the onions at the following link are intermediate heirlooms. I've never dealt with the company but it looks like they have quite a nice assortment of veggies. (Maybe you can check the Garden Watch Dog for any reviews, eh?) This link goes to the intermediate heirloom onions but once there you can find short day onions also.
http://sustainableseedco.com/intermediate-day-onions/

Lastly, if you got Dixondales variety of 1015 Texas Supersweet that is one of the few OP onions they offer. It's a short day but at least you can save the seeds from it if you have it.

Getting a bit long-winded here so I better take a stroll. A nice sun shiny day here and need to get to repotting (or maybe I'll go set out my beets!)
Best,
Shoe

Shoe - yes, I do remember growing carrot tops as a child.

I looked up the link you gave and the Australian Brown Onion looks good. They list it as an intermediate day type, but other sites say it's a Long Day type.

I've tried short-day onions, but they do not store well for me - which is why I like "Candy". Wish I had more gardening space so I could experiment with seeds from Candy!

After the haircut....

"I looked up the link you gave and the Australian Brown Onion looks good. They list it as an intermediate day type, but other sites say it's a Long Day type."

Darn, well, Honeybee, I really hope it's intermediate. I know Dixondale has an onion that is a long day but in their blurb they state it is also good for intermediate areas. I think it is their Yellow Spanish. That being said maybe Aus. Brown is compatible in both areas like Yellow Spanish is, eh?

GG, I don't think I would've cut your onions top at that stage of growth. Trimming is done by some folks when they are much smaller, usually when they are still more "grassy".

Shoe (back to the g-house wondering what happened to our 78º weather we had yesterday)

Uh oh...They were so floppy, they were being pulled outta the potting mix...

How does one determine if they need long, short or intermediate?

Yehudith- Thanks for the link, I will be spending the rest of my evening shopping the site...lol

Dee

Well thank you, I would never have guessed long days were in the north.

Isn't it awful!!!!!? My friend and I are planning on taking a trip up to New York to go shopping. We're going to take the train and hit the garment district ( OK I sew and am adicted to the really good stuff. My daughter's first Yom Kippur dress was handmade of white silk and imported French lace with three petticots of French tulle) and then hit Brooklyn for our stock up(I got her hooked on anything in puff pastry and chanterlles, you've got to try them sauted in olive oil, garlic and dried tomatoes served with angle hair pasta and lamb chops. OMG!!!!! We used to have it everynight when my husband was out of town on business with a good bottle of wine). I'd make it up to him with brandied cherries and marscapone on homemade ladyfingers and napoleones. We're planning on taking our daughters this trip, time to iniciate them into the fine art of epicurian shopping. I love New York!!!!!!!. Oh, if you like I'll give you my recipie for grav lox rather than paying a fortune at Marky's although theirs is great, but....

I was so lucky, I grew up in New Jersey in horse and orchard country and went to school in the city. My mother who was from England had a huge country garden and grew everything we ate including meat. I wish you could have seen it. Instead of the usual junk food, when we came home from school we'd pull baby carrots or pick peas straight off the vine. We'd bring blackberries home by the bucket an Mummy'd freeze them or make dumplings with them. I can still taste the blackberry dumplings with creme chantilly. I had either milk fresh from the cow or from our goat whom we called Nanny. Mummy's skim the cream off the milk and we'd have that over home grown peaches or berries. My father would slaughter our own meat and smoke it or Mummy would pickle or freeze it. I still remember her chicken and dumplings, she grew our own chickens and it was my job to catch them when their heads were chopped off and they went running headless across the yard. She made anglefood cakes with the eggs and all sorts of good stuff. I never had processed food until I joined the Navy and left home. Hubby was raised by his grandma who lived with his parents. She was old villiage Chinese so of course she grew nearly everything he ate and spoiled him rotten because he was the oldest son and of course his father was her oldest son and she had married her mother -in-law's oldest son and they owned restaurants so a lot is expected of my garden. Believe me He didn't care about my major in college he only wanted to know one thing when we met, could I cook! Yep! And grow it too! Hee Hee I was in!

The other day my daughter looks at me while she was eating breakfast and I was packing her lunch and says "you know Mummy I don't like processed food cause I'm so used to the real healthy stuff". She's only 10. Yesterday she was out in the garden helping me put in the peas like I used to help Mummy. All I could say in my heart was "Thank you G-d, one more generation...!". It was even better, because I was planting an old English varietythat was almost lost so it was almost like I was holding the hand of my first ancestor who first put foot in England escaping the Spanish inquisition.
I love my garden.

There is nothing to me that taste as good as something you have grown yourself. I have severe stomache isssues now so I have to be very careful what I eat . I like growing my own because I know how it was grown . my body has a hard time with processed food .
I never knew chickens realy did run around with there heads cut off, I remember my mother and grandmother saying that all the time to us kids { you youngens run around like a chicken with its head cut off} I just thought it was a saying.
Never had goats milk is it as sweet as cows milk?

My uncle used to make turtle soup when I was very little. I remember once he cut the head off a GYNORMOUS turtle, and it still walked around the yard without its head.

I remember because I was standing on the turtle's back as it walked. I was 5, skinny as a rail, and, evidently, light as a butterfly!

GG, better you than me. I suspect I would have had nightmares forever...

might, anyway...shudder...

Wow that sent shivers up my spine ,most of the big turtles around here are snapping , by the way did you like turtle soup? I have had fried turtle meat and it was good but never had soup.

I love TURTLE soup. Haven't had it since I was little, though. They made it Louisiana-style with a red gravy. I believe the French phonetic spelling of what we call it is "Cah-wanh"

MMMMMmmmmm!!!!! My dad makes the best snapper soup! I think I need to get his recipe soon. Spring is almost here and the turtles will be coming around! Maybe I will send the kids into the park to get a few, bring 'em home, fatten them up for a while then do up the soup....sounds goo to me!!!!

Yehudith- I spent a few hours at Marky's....love it!!! Thanks a bunch!! I finally decided the party favors for my wedding in may...real Belgian chocolates....the small boxes they have are perfect!!!

Dee