Onion - is a perennial edible?
 

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 :-)

Cheers

Dave R

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

Onion - is a perennial edible?
 

"Christina Websell" wrote in message
...

"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

Just noticed a suspiciously flower like stalk growing from the base.
The onion leaves look good and healthy.

Now is the time to decide if I should cut any flowers off before they form.

Onion - is a perennial edible?
 

David WE Roberts wrote:
"Christina Websell" wrote in message
...

"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

Just noticed a suspiciously flower like stalk growing from the base.
The onion leaves look good and healthy.

Now is the time to decide if I should cut any flowers off before they
form.

Dried seed-heads of many of the onion family make quite a decent show in
a vase, and you don't have to do anything to them for several years. A
good bunch of cereal picked and dried before it's quite ripe looks even
nicer. I think I kept a couple of these, er, "arrangements" for maybe as
long as twenty years until I moved house. I never found out a foolproof
way of dusting them, either, which was good.

--
Mike.

Onion - is a perennial edible?
 

"Mike Lyle" wrote in message
...
David WE Roberts wrote:
"Christina Websell" wrote in message


Dried seed-heads of many of the onion family make quite a decent show in a
vase, and you don't have to do anything to them for several years. A good
bunch of cereal picked and dried before it's quite ripe looks even nicer.
I think I kept a couple of these, er, "arrangements" for maybe as long as
twenty years until I moved house. I never found out a foolproof way of
dusting them, either, which was good.


LOL!
If you ever watched the programmes about Big Posh Mansions with delicate
expensive porcelain and stuff in you will find that they "dusted" them by
holding a vacuum cleaner with old tights or some such thing over the nozzle
an appropriate distance away.
So it is possible to "dust" delicate things if you want to.

I have a Dyson so there would have to be a seriously strong sock on the
nozzle waved over it or the whole precious thing would be up its tube..

However, I'm with you. Never dust anything you have an excuse not to ;-)

Tina

Onion - is a perennial edible?
 

"Sacha" wrote in message
...
On 2010-04-29 18:12:18 +0100, "Christina Websell"
said:


"Mike Lyle" wrote in message
...
David WE Roberts wrote:
"Christina Websell" wrote in message


Dried seed-heads of many of the onion family make quite a decent show in
a
vase, and you don't have to do anything to them for several years. A
good
bunch of cereal picked and dried before it's quite ripe looks even
nicer.
I think I kept a couple of these, er, "arrangements" for maybe as long
as
twenty years until I moved house. I never found out a foolproof way of
dusting them, either, which was good.


LOL!
If you ever watched the programmes about Big Posh Mansions with delicate
expensive porcelain and stuff in you will find that they "dusted" them by
holding a vacuum cleaner with old tights or some such thing over the
nozzle
an appropriate distance away.
So it is possible to "dust" delicate things if you want to.

I have a Dyson so there would have to be a seriously strong sock on the
nozzle waved over it or the whole precious thing would be up its tube..

However, I'm with you. Never dust anything you have an excuse not to ;-)

Tina

A very soft paintbrush (un-used, of course) is perfect for fiddly china
and lampshades. I haven't tried dusting the garden!

And I will not be doing either. If my Dyson cannot dust it it doesn't get
dusted. I work 5/7 and don't want to spend those precious two days doing
anything else except attending to my chickens, doing a bit of gardening and
cooking, and listening to birdsong.
Tina