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Scallions, spring onions, or salad onions, all are named green onions. Green onions are very easy to plant, care or harvest. And, in this article, we are going to have a life story of growing green onions while especially focusing on how to harvest green onions.
Green onions are so versatile that you can add them to salads, omelets, meats, soups, stews, etc. and they will enhance the color and flavor of the dish while providing a finishing touch.
1. Overview of Green Onions
The scientific or botanical name of green onions is Allium fistulosum which means green onions belong to the Allium family of vegetables that also includes garlic, leak, onions, etc.
Many and most of the commercial spring onions or scallions are immature plants of the common onions(Allium cepa). Green onions are rich in antioxidants which help reduce inflammation in the body and also help in lowering the sugar level.
2. Types of Green Onions
There are many types of green onions and their basis of categorization is ‘different flavors and colors’.
2.1 Spring Onions
They have larger white bulbs but leaves are slender and thinner with a sweet savory taste.
2.2 Chives
Chives have beautiful purplish flowers that are edible too while having a mild aroma and overpowering crunchy texture, these are very nutritious.
2.3 Leeks
These are very large and harvested onions do not have any bulbs or cloves. Sweeter than any other onions harvested.
2.4 Classic Green Onions
Classic green onions are similar to other store-bought green onions scallions but varied from spring onions. These consist of smaller white onion bulbs with green tops which taste stronger than the green leaves of regular green onions scallions do.
2.5 Tokyo Negi
They do not have white bulb rather, they have a white stalk with long leaves which are even sweeter than onion bulbs, the classic green onions.
2.6 Red Beard
This variety comes from Kazakhstan and China, is milder, and can be used raw whether in cooking or eating.
2.7 Calcot
Calcot is typically a variety of regular onions from Spain with larger leaves than other types of onions. These are not a way to go as raw.
2.8 Chinese Onions
These onions are very similar to common green onions and are prevalent in China, Japan, Vietnam, and North America. These are not very known in India instead, used in many dishes and desserts in China.
3. How to Plant Green Onions?
Do you think it is hard to plant and grow green onions? Let me tell you a simple interesting story about me.
Whenever my mother sees any sprouted green stalks of onions here in the kitchen, she calls me and says, “Go and plant this in the garden anywhere I have put the manure and it can grow.” And I have been doing it since my childhood and have seen many spring onion plants being flourished.
So, we can go through with few cautions and we are good to go without any worries.
4. When to Plant Green Onions?
The spring onions can be sown in any type of environment with perennial season cropping but for the best results, try to sow or plant them during the early to mid-spring season so that, harvesting could be possible during the summers.
You can plant them also in late winter and follow up with the harvest time in early spring or start harvesting the next year round early winter. Green onions are so easy to plant, care and handle.
Green onions are like kids who can walk mostly alone without the support of their guardians.
5. What should be the Environment Site?
The environment matters for each and every living thing on the earth. That is why, we have to make a good home for green onion plants.
You can plant green onions either in containers, raised beds, or at any sunny spot in your garden but make sure that weeds could keep away from them to avoid the competition for soil moisture because spring onions need well-drained soil to grow properly.
Go and check out the perfect spot for planting green onions.
6. What is Needed to Care for the Plant?
Green onions are undoubtedly easy to plant and grow but still, to grow green onions that need some of the basic requirements as nourishment.
6.1 Light
A sunny light site and a garden bed is perfect for their growth. Yeah, they can grow with a light shade garden, but at least need 6 to 7 hours of continuous presence of direct light or full sun.
6.2 Soil Support
The soil should be well-drained feature with rich sandy loam to make the shallow roots of the plant fully mature and capable to grow.
Add organic matter or compost to enhance the richness of the soil up to 6 to half inches to 7 inches deep down to provide rooted nourishment and new growth.
6.3 Temperature
As you grow green onions they need well-drained soil to grow so, temperature and humidity balance should be there.
The temperature would be okay if it is around 44 degrees like warmer is better with the humid conditions to remain the soil moist for up to a week for better and sharp growth.
6.4 Water
Green onions and onion plants need to have regular watering because of having a shallow root system so, so whenever you see growing green onions or onion plants’ soil getting dried out, follow up with rainfall.
Do not leave them in the wet soil, they will rot and catch diseases. Just drainage should be good drainage well-maintained.
6.5 Fertilizer
We shine because of a proper healthy diet so why should your plants leave like this?
Provide a balanced manure and fertilizer dose to your plants for their real sharp growth.
7. How to Harvest Green Onions: 2 Important Methods
If you have already learned how to grow green onions then you are on the way to having a long harvest season next crop just because of few patches of plants.
There are mainly 2 techniques or ways to harvest green onions. And, here is the magic begins.
7.1 By Leaf/Stem
You can call the slender white stem with long dark green top part a leaf or stem. By growing medium leaf, you can harvest according to 2 ways based on the flavor you want.
- If you want a sweet and mild onion flavor for the salad or to garnish the recipe then, go for harvesting the baby crop when the plant is just 6 to 7 inches tall. It will not restrict growth rather, it will help to enhance the overall factors to boost the strength of the plant to grow further till the season is out.
- If your green onion plants grew enough then, just cut their leaves to use in your kitchen and leave them to grow further for the next sooner harvesting process. This process is mainly followed because when these leaves are grown-ups, they add up the taste, color and flavor to the recipes.
7.2 By Whole Plant
If you want a whole plant including leaves and the bigger bulb stalk then, use the trowel to loosen the outer leaves in the soil so that, it could come and gently pull out easily without hurting the soil atmosphere.
Do not try to hurt the plant by tugging out directly because it can damage the whole stem.
These are the only techniques by which the flavor king green onions are being harvested continuously.
8. Pest Control
While green onion plants are easy-to-deal plants but still a big issue generally haunts our sweet plants and that big issue is named slugs which we can see usually in any garden.
These slugs can initiate some diseases in onion greens like botrytis leaf blight, purple blotch, and downy mildew which can rot and spoil the dark green leaves of onion greens plants’ condition.
To deal with it, we have to go through the crop rotation and maintenance of good spacing so that, the plant could feel alive.
Final Words
As we have talked about green onions, can be cooked so easily and even, we can prefer eating them without any cooking also.
These can enhance any recipe like soup, noodles, salad, dips, stir-fries, curry, etc. without even changing the original taste and flavor while showing off its own richness.
Whenever you feel like having a veggie garden, you make sure of adding green onion plants because of their versatile and easy growth.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q 1. How to make green onions grow from green onion crop, when green onions grow from seeds?
Just prepare a container filled with manured soil and then, spread the seeds while making an aligned spacing. Cover the spacing and water the seeds under the full sun.
Q 2. Is harvesting the green onions easy?
Yes, Harvesting is very easy with just 2 techniques. One is the leaf method of harvest and the other one is the plant method.
The leaf method says that ‘just cut the stem or leaf and leave the entire plant alone on its own.’
The plant method says, ‘Go and grab the whole plant but very carefully pull it delicately.’
Q 3. What time is taken to grow?
It takes only 70 to 80 days for seeds to be fully grown up. (Applied for most of the varieties.)
Q 4. Is pollination required?
Green onions self-pollinate and try to take the plant out before the flowers start appearing because it can generate the taste issue.
Q 5. How many types of green onions are there based on age?
There are 3 types of green onions based on the age factor:
- Scallions: the smallest and youngest form which gives tender and sweet flavor.
- Green Onions: They are slightly bigger and the bulb starts forming at this stage. The leaves are good to go for eating purposes.
- Spring Onions: They are the oldest form and make sure of their stronger flavor.
