The Onion Experiment

This year we decided to try to grow a years supply of storage onions for our large family without adding to our existing garden space.  The plan?  Maximize the empty space that would be on either side of our tomato beds!  Below we have detailed the process and results of this experiment.  

Our order of onion plants arrived the first of March and we planted them right away.  Onions need to be planted early to receive enough daylight hours to form a bulb before the heat of summer arrives. Using a string to give us a straight line we planted the onions 6" apart on either side of our garden beds.  

Six weeks later we planted tomato starts down the center of each bed and let them alone to grow happily until adding their trellises, which were simply t-posts and string.  The following pictures are of the next two months progress.

Bulbs swelling and getting close to harvest!

Once the onions were mature we pushed the greens down at the neck to help seal off the bulb for better storage.

The harvest!

After curing them in our garage for two weeks we braided and hung them for long term storage!

​The Conclusion:  
This experiment was a complete success and we are definitely going to repeat it next year!  We found that we could easily grow a year's supply of onions using the extra spaces in our garden and the onions were harvested before the tomato plants grew too large.  It also was very uniform and pleasing to the eye, which was a happy bonus!  


​We hope you will try this experiment in your own garden, and if you do, ask Christ for His help and blessing.  James 1:5 says - "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him."