Tender Onion Greens All Season Long
© Traute Klein, biogardener
It's in the Planning
You can never have too many edible alliums in the garden, and that includes all types of onions, chives, garlic, and garlic chives. Various onion types are tender at different times of the season. Plan to have every type, and you will always have fresh tender onion greens. Alliums are companion plants which should be scattered all over the garden wherever a tree, bush, or other plant needs protection from aphids, borers, or black spot. Louise Riotte writes about that in her companion planting books, "Carrots Love Tomatoes" and "Roses Love Garlic." Note: Hold the mouse over the pictures to read the captions.
Green Onions
Whenever I harvest or buy green onions, I cut off the bottom 1 1/2" to stick in the ground somewhere and only use the top for salads. Wherever I stick them into the ground, each one will produce a bunch of about a dozen green onions within 12 months. That is a much faster way of producing green onions than from seed. Green onions are actually hardy enough in my zone 3 garden to overwinter, so I have a supply of them from early spring to late autumn. Of course, I stick them into the ground in a spot where they will also protect some susceptible plant from aphids.
Chives
Chives multiply quickly and need to be transplanted frequently to keep them healthy, because they get so crowded that each stem becomes very skinny. When I divide a bunch, I plant only 3 tiny bulbs at a time to avoid having to do it again in a few years. As soon as they are stuck in the ground, they need a haircut, a real short one. And yes, I do use scissors. They do the cleanest job. I only use chives early in the season. Once they produce flowers, the main stems get tough, and I don't want to bother picking them out. By that time, I have all kinds of other onion greens anyway, and the flowers are so beautiful in the garden. Some people use the flowers in salads. They may look nice, but in our dry prairie summers, they are a bit tough to eat. They may be all right where you live. Try them.
Garlic
Garlic for the garden does not have to be bought at a high price from a garden centre. The grocery store garlic is just fine, as long as it has little green shoots when you buy it. I buy it year round. In the summer, I set it in the garden wherever needed, and in the winter, I stick it in flower pots to keep flying insects away from my houseplants.
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The copyright of the article Tender Onion Greens All Season Long in Organic Gardens is owned by Traute Klein, biogardener. Permission to republish Tender Onion Greens All Season Long in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
