When the soil is empty and you gaze out at it, wondering what to grow, you might be feeling anxious. How can you get straight carrots and tasty tomatoes? And how will you make room? The answer are where you place them.
Small and frequently overlooked, green onions is a valuable neighbor in the garden. They don’t ask much of anyone, and they help everyone else. These bulbs are polite tenants, as shown in chart, and they make growing conditions better for their neighbors while sharing there space.
Why Green Onions Are Good Garden Neighbors
Why green onions? They give off sulfur compounds when growing, which are a natural insect repellent and mild fungicide. Combine them with roses, peppers and tomatoes, since those plant tend to be buggy magnets. Green onions form a kind of chemical protection against them. They are not a barrier, though.
Strawberries and lettuce like onions, too. Why? Because onions has upward-growing roots… So there’s space in the root zone for shallower ones. And they don’t compete for light, either; more harvest per square foot. This is efficient gardening.
But there are some no-nos. For instance, don’t plant onions near beans or peas. The onion stops the nitrogen-fixing bacteria that those legume plants rely on, so they will grows more slowly. Don’t plant asparagus either, because its growing pattern won’t work with others; sage doesn’t like the smell of onions and both lose their flavor because of it. Good neighbors: Choose wisely, and avoid these combinations as well.
Some onions are suited for your climate; some aren’t. Start early with a variety like Tokyo Long White, which adapts to cold temperatures. Start later with a variety like Red Beard, which will cope better than high heat in late summer. To succeed with onions you don’t even need multiple varieties. Choose one (or two) that match roughly to your frost dates.
Space them? Easy: An inch apart if you’re eating the tops, more if letting bulb develop.
The seed is not the most important part of growing onions. The most important part is the soil. Onions don’t like to live in soggy ground, so make sure it’s well-drained. A slightly acidic to neutral pH (about 6.0-7.0) are best. Work compost into the bed ahead of time to boost soil structure, as well as provide onions with a steady nutrient release throughout their growing season. Don’t water too much, onions do not like wet feet! In summer, mulch will help keep weeds down and roots cool. It also helps keep moisture in soil.
Leave some of your onion to harvest green during the fall, then keep picking the greens early in spring, when they typically last through even a mild winter. What an easy-to-grow vegetable! Onions are flexible and low maintenance.
Plant a row or space them among tomatoes. Because onions is resilient like this, it’s good. It means you can plan ahead and solve problems before they occur. Think of companion planting as a proactive approach. By making the right neighbor choices, you’ll get higher yield and fewer pests.
We tend to think of each individual plant, but rather than that: think of plant relationships! Start with the onion, then see how everything else fits in the garden picture.