Onions from Seed – Introduction

Onions can be grown from Seed or Sets. In this guide, I talk about Growing Onions from Seed.

Also read: Growing Onions from Sets (baby bulbs).

Here are some reasons to grow Onions from Seed or from Sets.

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There’s lots of value to Growing Onions, they are a staple in the kitchen as a base for lots of dishes and they can be used as a natural pest control in the vegetable garden.

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Early Onion Varieties

Here are a few Onion Variety suggestions when sowing seed in January and February.

Try the following varieties:

• Kamal F1 – Red Onion,
• Alisa Craig – White onion,
• Globo – White large onion,
• Bonus F1 – White Onion – I’m sowing this one,
• Bedford Champion – Well known White onion,
• Santero F1 – White onion,
• Walla Walla – White onion.

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Click on the Photos to read the variety description.

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Sowing Onions

Sow Seeds: January to March

• Sow 1 Onion Seed per windowsill cell tray.
• Water well and put on a sunny light windowsill.
• After 6 weeks, pot seedlings on (they look like blades of grass) into a larger cell tray and keep in the unheated greenhouse.

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Sowing Onions from Seed

This video teaches you how to Sow Onions from Seed.

You will need:

• A packet of Onion Seeds,
• A windowsill cell tray with ventilation lid,
• Trowel,
• Compost,
• Small Watering can with water.

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Video – How to Pot on Your Onion Seedlings

This video shows how to Pot On your Onion Seedlings to a larger cell tray and then grow on in an unheated greenhouse.

You will need:

• A larger cell tray,
• A small fork tool or lolly stick,
• Compost,
• A small watering can.

My Onions from Seed Growing Experience

Here’s my growing journey……

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Planting Onions in April

Onion plants will be strong enough to face the cold in April. Pant them in a Raised bed or containers to get them growing, ready for a harvest in Late July to August,

Here’s how to plant your Onions outside:

Onions from Seed

Variety: Bonus F1

• Type: Medium Sized Spanish Onion.
• Sowed Seeds: 9 January.
• Germinated: In 5 Days.
• Potted on into Large Pots: 6 weeks old on 20th February.
• Ready to Plant Outside: Mid April.
• Harvest: Late July to Early August.

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Drum roll…. It’s Time for the all important Harvest!

Harvest your Onions when their leaves are browning and they lay flat on the ground like they are exhausted from all their growing!

Here’s how to Harvest your Onions – Good Luck and all the best for a big crop.

Before bring them inside, you’ll need to Dry your Onions so they don’t rot in storage.

How to Dry Onions

The aim is to dry out the onions so they don’t contain as much water anymore. This will prevent them from rotting when storing them.

1. Lay them outside in the sun on a dry day on a rack with air holes.
2. The rack in the above picture is willow trellis, I hang this vertically in my shed and hang it on 2 nails. I then thread the leaves in the holes and they dry out in the shed. (Note: make sure no rain can get into the shed otherwise they won’t dry out).
3. Tie up the Onions in a plait and hang them from a garage or shed roof to air dry.

How to Store Onions in the Kitchen or cupboard

1. Use netted bags for ventilation to stop onions rotting,
2. Use a mesh basket or plastic basket with holes in which has ventilation.

Nothing beats that taste of Homegrown Onions!

Your Onions will be more flavourful, sometimes stronger and larger than supermarket onions. This is a good thing!

Use your Onions in some of the best Onions Recipes like:

• Caramelised Onions – The modern proper
• Onion Soup – Jamie Oliver Recipe
• Sticky Onion Tart – Jamie Oliver recipe
• Creamy Pasta with caramelized onions, mushrooms & spinach – Julia’s Album
• Tennessee Onions – Nessy Recipes
• Onion Bhaji Burger – Dean Edwards (recipe in comments)

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Onion Growing Resources

To help you succeed with growing Onions, here are a bunch of free downloads to help you grow and get the best harvests.

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Onion Links

• Onion Seed Sow Along Video – Start Sowing Seeds & grab my free PDF Growing Onions Checklist.
• Onion Seedlings 5-12 days – Find out what to do next after your seeds have germinated & how to check if there’s enough water in the compost.
• Onions from Seed – Seed, Germinate, Seedlings – Weeks 1-6 – updates with photos of onion seeds at germination to 6 weeks seedlings.
• Potting On Onion Seedlings at 6 Weeks – including What is Potting On and Transplant Shock? & Video of How to Pot on Seedlings.
• Growing Onions from Sets – Main Page.

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Vegetable Gardening for Beginners course

Join our new course on how to grow vegetables for beginners who are trying to be environmentally friendly. Do you want to be harvesting vegetables from your garden to cook for your family? Are you a nature lover and want to work with the soil, wildlife to grow vegetables in your garden or allotment? Then this is the course for you. 12 Modules showing you everything you need to know about sowing seeds to cooking with veg.

Join the course anytime here.