I recently got a bit of chain letter nonsense that has put onions on my brain. Have you seen this one? The basic claim is that onions can be chopped up and set around the house to “soak up” flu virus. For the same germ soaking reason, you shouldn’t keep a partial onion for later consumption. (Not even in a ziplock in the fridge!! Poisonous!! Be afraid!) As Snopes quite reasonably points out, the flu is a virus spread by contact, so, unless you are contagious and making out with the onion (I can’t see anyone being that desperate, even after the SHTF…) the onion is not going to “soak up” anything.
That bit of foolishness aside, onions are actually great survival food.They are cheap to buy in bulk, and with proper storage, they’ll keep for quite awhile. They are versatile to cook with, I can’t even count the number of meals I know that call for an onion or two as a base ingredient. Almost every soup, stir fry, casserole and pasta dish I know uses onions. They’ve been around so long as a domesticated food source, almost every food culture uses them. Dated samples confirm their use as far back as 5000BC.
They are a reliable early producer in the garden. Even up here in my chilly zone 4, green onions are one of the first harvests from the garden. (Green onions are the same thing as scallions.) Onions are very cold tolerant and can withstand temperatures as low as 20 degrees F. Helpful garden tip – green onions are grown from the same sets/seeds as regular table (bulb) onions. The sets or seeds are planted closer together in the garden, this retards the bulbing. I plant my green onions at a distance of 1″ apart in row 2″ apart. It’s not too late to plant green onions, if you still have sets that aren’t dried up husks, set them in the garden now for some green onions this fall.
Onions are very adaptable and will grow in almost any soil from sandy loams to heavy clay. They do appreciate a bit of Nitrogen and weeding.
Multiple crops with different uses and storage options. Besides the early green onions, there is the slightly later crop of “summer onions” or stew onions as I call them. They are the onions with the small bulbs on them. Cut the tops off and toss them whole into soups and stews, they’ll soak up the broth and turn into little juicy balls of deliciousness. A favorite of my hubby. Lastly, is the bulb harvest of mature, large slicing onions. Very healthy for you, providing B vitamins, calcium, potassium and iron. They are also pest free. I’ve literally never had a problem with my onion crop.
Other bits of awesomeness include the fact that you can make a dye with onion skins. Any homeschoolers among our readers? Onions are GREAT for science projects involving cells, they have a large easy to identify cellular structure. The ancient Egyptians worshiped them,believing the spherical shape and concentric rings symbolized eternal life. In the Middle Ages, onions were such an important food that people would pay their rent with onions.
Are you ready to pay your rent with onions? It could happen, you should brush up on your Allium cultivation, just to be on the safe side.
- Calamity Jane
i agree i love onions the only problem i have with growing em is i live in a apartment in a big complex
Jane, Jane, Jane,
In my 53 years I’ve never heard the phrase “making out with the onion”. And I’m quite sure that I never will again. But I got a real good laugh!
My only crop this year is a row of sweet onions. And it’s a good thing, as folks here on the front range of Colorado are just trying too keep what vegetation they have alive to grow another year. But so far they seem to be doing well. I drip irrigate them about 2 hours every other day and I’m hoping for some nice big slices to sit atop my burgers this fall.
Mid to late October is the best time to plant seed of the super sweet, short-to-intermediate daylength onion types in Texas zones III – V (USDA Zones 8 and 9). Seeds can be sown directly into the garden, covered with one-fourth inch of soil and should sprout within 7- 10 days. If planted thickly, plants can be pulled and utilized as green onions or scallions for salads or fresh eating in 8-10 weeks. However, most gardeners want to grow an onion bulb as large as a basketball. To do this, the onion plants must be thinned by next February until they are at least 2-3 inches apart to insure adequate bulb expansion. The removed plants can be used for scallions or for transplanting into another area of the garden so that these too will have adequate space in which to enlarge into large bulbs.
Grow loads of garlic for the health benefits too!
i planted a bunch of potato onions and walking onions this year. these perennial onions provide real food security in that they not only produce onions, but onion sets for replanting as well. you can usually get a small batch walking onions sets on ebay for a few bucks, and you will have onion sets forever! potato onions are available from a few seed catalogues.
I grow onions but they rarely reach the size and quality I can buy. Still I grow them and maybe oneday I will get them to be as big as a softball and solid as one too.
Here is an idea I have been using, If you buy green onions at the grocery store when you cut them up leave about 1/2″ on the root end and plant them in your garden. I have tons of green onions free. They grow fast too since they already have a root system.
We didn’t have luck with red onions or white onions. Our green onions did great! I love a bowl of french onion soup anytime. ( I make it myself)
Check out making DIY onion butter, a great way to take care of that big bag of onions that were given you and you want to be sure that they get used before they get rotten. Here is a link to one of them.
http://tinyurl.com/89st8ft
I love baked onions.
Cut an onion almost in half, then rotate it and do it again so that the two cuts form an x. Put a paddy of butter in there with a little salt. Wrap in aluminum foil and bake like you would a potato. You can do it on the grill or in the campfire as well.
The heat and butter caramelizes the sugars in the onion so it’s sweet.
Delicious!
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Onions , garlic , cabbage , potatoes .