Hi!
I got some fro a trade but have no idea how to plant them. They are still attached to the main stem. Do I break them off? Do i cover the bulb with soil when planting it?
thank you
help with walking onions
The ones I got were already sprouted, and I planted them with the soil covering the bulb by maybe half an inch, maybe even less, but I did cover the bulb. They are doing well and are starting to grow bulbets of their own. Since walking onion propagates itself by bending over so the bulbets can root into the surface of the soil (hence "walking" itself across your garden over the years), I woudn't think the bulbs would have to be planted very deeply.
thank you Critter!
Spider, I started mine in a pot as I wasn't sure what to do. Have since put them in soil. They grew, set walkers (?) and have bowed down to root. I am not harvesting as I want them to spread. They need to be in a location with prepared soil as it will make a bigger bed and here I find I need to give them extra water, don't know about your zone...
I am 7b, Pod. Can you eat them?
Oh yes, they are edible. I have resisted as I want to get a bunch going but they smell good. I was told the small top bulbs are harvested for pickled onions. They seem a little small for that to me.
thank you Pod.
Hi spider and critter,
sorry I didn't send any instructions with those bulbs, they're so prolific in my garden I don't usually worry about planting them. Last summer a pot full of small bulbs got knocked over and scattered by the wind and I had them pop up all over the place. Some more that I planted in a new bed (threw them in a raked a little dirt over) actually grew roots so fast that they pushed themselves out of the soil!
I'm glad yours are doing well critter. The only part that's not very good to eat is the flower/bulblet stalk. It gets very tough, almost woody. If you cut the green parts to eat they will send up a new leaf or two but they won't get to blooming size as fast.
Mine never have bloomed. The stalks get blisters about an inch from the top. When it opens, it has a few small bulbs right there. No flowers. Is this a different type of walking onion?
You must have some great soil for them to be so productive. Ours is quite compacted and needs assistance.
pod, we've plowed 15 cubic yards of compost (so far) into our garden areas, since the builder left us with some nasty clay that was beyond compacted.
Katlian, thanks again for sharing the walking onion with me! It's such a cool little plant, and trading is always more fun (to me) than purchasing (I'd been eyeing walking onion in the catalogs for a couple of years)... I walk past the irises, look down, and say Oh! There are the walking onions Kat sent me!
:-)
Hi pod,
I think the flowers vs. bulbs thing has to do with the weather because last year we had all bulbs and this year was about 50/50 bulbs and flowers on all the plants, not just ones in certain soil or older ones.
Okay, I give up... What exactly are walking onions? They sound interesting from what has been said on this thread, but I can't say that I've ever come across any before.
Check them out in PlantFiles! http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/31430/index.html