Planting onions in autumn: the secret weapon for an early and abundant harvest! 🌱
As nature slowly winds down and the leaves turn gold and red, most gardeners are starting to wind down the season. But savvy, forward-thinking gardeners know that autumn is not a time for an end, but a time for a new beginning! While others are putting away tools, we can make an investment in the future that will pay off handsomely in early spring. The secret is to plant wild onions in autumn.
Imagine how after the winter dusk, when the snow has barely melted, your garden is already lined with the green stems of fresh, crisp onions! While everyone else is still thinking about spring planting, you’re already harvesting. This method is one of the cleverest tricks of bio-intensive gardening: harnessing the rhythms of nature for maximum results with minimum effort.
In this article, we’ll tell you everything you need to know about planting wild onions in autumn. We’ll show you why it’s worth it, when the perfect time is, which variety to choose, and take you step-by-step through the planting process to ensure early success in your garden!
Why Plant Dugwort in Autumn? 5 Reasons to Grow Onions in Winter
It may seem strange to plant before winter sets in, but nature’s logic is perfect. Fall planting has many advantages over spring planting.
- 🥇 You’ll be the first! Autumn planted bulbs are weeks or even a month ahead of their spring planted counterparts. When the markets are still dreaming of fresh green onions, you can be picking them from your own garden for your morning scrambled eggs.
- 💪 Growing Bigger and Stronger Overwintering bulbs have much more time to develop. Thanks to their strong root systems developed in the autumn and milder winter days, they start to grow explosively in the spring, so they tend to produce bigger, more heady crops.
- ⏳Save time in peak spring time Spring is a crazy, hectic time for any gardener. Soil preparation, planting, sowing all come at once. If you get your bulb planting done in the fall, you’ll save yourself valuable time and energy during the spring peak.
- 튼튼 Stronger Roots, Better Stamina Cool, moist soil in autumn is ideal for root formation. By winter, bulbs develop a strong, deep root system that makes them more resistant to spring drought or sudden heat waves.
- 🐛Fewer pest problems One of the biggest enemies, the onion fly, starts to draw in spring, the first warmer days. By this time, however, your autumn-planted bulbs will be big and strong enough to keep the pest from ruining your crop. They simply ‘outgrow’ the most dangerous period.
The Perfect Timing: When to Plant Autumn Bulbs? 📅
Timing is key. The goal is to give the bulbs time to root before the ground freezes, but not to produce too much foliage that could be damaged by hard frosts.
In Hungary, the ideal period is usually from late September to late October or early November.
- The best guideline is soil temperature: the ideal time is when the soil cools to below 10°C on a sustained basis.
- Check the calendar and your area: October is the perfect month in most regions. In most regions, most regions are ideal for planting.
- The rule: Plant early enough to allow the roots to develop (about 3-4 weeks before frosts), but late enough so that the green shoots don’t grow more than 5-10 cm tall.
Which Type Should You Choose? Heroes of the Overwintering Onion
It is important to know that not all bulbs are suitable for autumn planting! You should specifically look for overwintering, short-day varieties in growers’ shops. These varieties have been genetically selected to withstand winter well and not to seed (produce flower stems) in the spring due to the cold.
Some popular and proven overwintering varieties:
- Shakespeare: early, round, yellow skin, very good frost tolerant. One of the safest choices.
- Radar: Flattened spherical, also very reliable and frost resistant.
- Senshyu Yellow: a Japanese variety with excellent productivity and good storage life.
- Electric (red): a beautiful, bright red, flattened globular bulb that also overwinters well.
Mastery of Planting: a Step-by-Step Guide to Success ✅
- Site Selection and Soil Preparation ☀️ Onions love the sun, so choose the sunniest part of the garden. The key is excellent drainage! Winter rainfall and stagnant water can lead to root rot. If your soil is compacted and clayey, it’s a good idea to loosen it with compost, sand or a small berm or raised bed. According to biointensive principles, it’s best to spread a 2-5 cm layer of mature compost on the soil surface instead of digging and plant in it.
- Preparing the Dughnuts ✨ Pick through the dughnuts. Use only healthy, firm, mould-free heads. You can also sort them by size: plant the smaller ones (1-1.5 cm) for head onions and the larger ones (2-2.5 cm) for harvesting early green onions.
- The Planting Spacing 📏 The right space ensures good ventilation and a nice head.
- Spacing: 25-30 cm
- Spacing: 10-15 cm (If you’re also harvesting for green onions, you can plant it more densely, 5-8 cm apart, and pick every second stalk in spring.)
- Depth of Planting 👇 This is one of the keys to success! The bulb should be planted in the ground with the tip up. The rule of thumb is to have a layer of soil over the bulb that is twice as thick as the bulb itself. This usually means a depth of 2-4 cm. The top of the bulb should just barely protrude from the ground.
- Watering 💧 Water the bed thoroughly after planting. This will help the soil to compact around the bulbs and start the rooting process.
- Winter Protection: the role of mulching 🍂 When the first hard frosts arrive (usually late November), spread a 5-10 cm layer of mulch on the bed. Straw, mulch (leaves) or wood chips are perfect for this. The mulch protects the bulbs from sudden heat fluctuations, hard frosts and prevents the frozen soil from “pushing” the bulbs out of place.
Common Questions and Errors 🤔
- What about garlic? Planting garlic in autumn is very similar, and even more recommended! The difference is that garlic seedlings should be planted deeper, about 5-8 cm.
- Is it bad if it sprouts before winter? No problem! A few inches of green shoots is perfectly normal. The problem is if you planted it too early and the foliage has grown too big, as it can be damaged by snow and frost.
- What to do in spring? When the hard frosts have subsided and the soil has thawed (late February, March), carefully pull the mulch off the bulb rows to allow the soil to warm up more quickly and the plants to get sunlight.
Summary: Plan Ahead, Harvest Early!
Planting bulbs in autumn is a simple but extremely rewarding gardening task. With a little autumn care, you can lay the foundations for the first abundant and healthy harvest of the coming season. This method perfectly demonstrates the essence of bio-intensive gardening: understanding and harnessing nature’s cycles to achieve more spectacular results with less work.
Don’t hesitate, grab a shovel (or just the compost bucket) and get the bed ready! Set a date for fall planting in your BioGarden365 app, set a reminder for spring mulch removal, and plan now for what companion plants (e.g. lettuce, carrots) will be in your bulb rows in the spring. Next year, your spring self will be very grateful!