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Old 28-04-2010, 06:17 PM posted to uk.rec.gardening
Christina Websell[_2_] Christina Websell[_2_] is offline
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First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Nov 2009
Posts: 423
Default Onion - is a perennial edible?


"David WE Roberts" wrote in message
...
Last year I had an onion start to sprout in the cupboard.

Just for the hell of it I suspended it over a glass of water until some
roots developed then planted it out in the garden.

It didn't do at all well - the top growth died off.

However, this year it is growing again and looking quite healthy.

Now, I am assuming that the onion is just another perennial which stores
energy in bulbs and in the wild propogates via seed.
So it may produce a viable bulb after another season's growth.
Is the bulb large each year, or is the first year (grown from seed) or
second year (grown from sets) the optimum time to harvest?

Alternatively it may flower and be just another Alium in the flower bed
without producing much in the way of food.

This could, of course, turn out to be a way of recycling onions which have
been in the cupboard too long :-)

I too, occasionally have these secret onions, but I never thought of
planting them out - I use the shoots like chives. Let me know how you get
on but my feeling is that you will just get a flower - which is not all bad,
you can save the seed!
Tina