Topic: Are onions worth growing?

[cobnut]

Are onions worth growing at all?  They are pretty cheap to buy even from the supermarket so is there a point in growing them yourself - do they taste better?

I have plenty of space in my allotment but not sure if they're worth the effort.  What do you think?

[Sally A]

Yes, but shallots even more so. Shallots store better, I'm still using last years, and they are smaller, just enough for a sandwich.

Onions are much jucier when freshly picked, and have a better taste - possibly less bitter, even though I know shop boughts aren't really bitter, but there is a definite freshness to the taste.

[rugbypost]

Fresh onions are great but over the past 2 years I find I can buy them cheap , and am able to grow more brassicas, I am able to grow right through the year. So for me I get better value for money by not planting onions ;D ;D

[Duke Ellington]

I do grow onions but I am also thinking of growing more brassicas in their place. I cook with onions most of the time and cannot really taste the difference between home grown and shop bought. Onions are a cheap veg to buy. I think there is a huge difference between home grown spring onions and shop brought ones so will always grow spring onions.

Duke

[Mr Smith]

I certainly think Onions are worth growing, this year I have planted 'Turbo' along with a variety of red onions and Shallots, I try to get my onions in exact lines with equal spaces between them, it reminds me of Trooping the Colour and when I look at them and it brings  tears to my eyes, :)

[Deb P]

I now grow only shallots, salad onions and bunching red florence/pink torpedo types as those are the main ones I use for salads and cooking, plus some banana shallots from seed. Shallots have the advantge of autumn planting using sets, so they are out by June and I can use the ground for squash or sweetcorn so the land is better used.

[grawrc]

I grow mountains of Alliums -  onions, shallots, garlic, leeks, spring onions and also chives (in the garden at home). These are, for me, the most indispensable ones, so I grow loads.

[green lily]

This year for the first time I can remember I've only planted and sown overwintering onions along with garlic as usual -- mainly to make sure there are crops in all the year round. Last year I bought a few kilo of  smallish 'cooking onions' in the autumn and they'll keep perfectly until Easter at least and better than the ones I grow. I lost a few sets in last December's freeze up but under enviromesh most of them survived and are doing well.I've put extra spuds and peas in the onions space. :)

[pigeonseed]

For ages I didn't grow them for the reason you mentioned. But I find them a real pleasure to grow - they're easy, and look so solid and healthy and... allotmenty!  :)

[Unwashed]

Yes, but shallots even more so. Shallots store better, I'm still using last years, and they are smaller, just enough for a sandwich.

Onions are much jucier when freshly picked, and have a better taste - possibly less bitter, even though I know shop boughts aren't really bitter, but there is a definite freshness to the taste.

What Sally said.

[powerspade]

I find shop onions very bland compared to home grown onions. I grew Hercules last year but they did not store very well so this year I have gone back to Centurion. I have just put in 350 of them also I grow Shallots I have 6 rows at about 40 per row. Yes I love onions mmmmmmmmm

[small]

I reckon home-grown onions taste better, I love to see them growing, and it's so easy always to have an onion to hand, choice of size too - anything that saves shopping has to be good, and my own are organic...guess it's clear which side I'm on......

[Urlybird]

Yes

[darkbrowneggs]

Home grown onions and shallots are one of the things I hate to be without - shop ones are hardly worth the effort of cooking.  That's why modern recipes with onions often include sugar or balsamic vinegar its the only way to get them to taste of anything  :D :D

All the best
Sue

[Ninnyscrops.]

Total agreement with most on here, shallots, onions and garlic don't taste the same as the bought stuff  :)

[Alex133]

I don't think shop onions are that cheap anymore - or any decent veg..............

[saddad]

Yes

I agree.... for the first time in over a decade we have run out of onions (we had some storage problems over winter) and it offends my soul to have to buy them... if I can't grow enough onions why have an allotment!  :-X

[cobnut]

Right ok, you've decided for me .. I'll grow some onions.  Now where do I buy them from.  There was a link on here for some but they were for hundreds which is a bit ambitious for a first attempt so looking for fewer but a good type to grow in the E.Anglia/Fen region.

Thanks :)

[chriscross1966]

I'd alwasy grow onions... for the same reason I'd always grow spuds.... my whole reason for having the allotments (and covering the garden in veg ) is to weat better food, not cheaper.... that said, hit Wyevales in the 50p sale and all my years onions and shallots comes in at 3 quid... add in a few trays of compost and that's pretty much all the expense.....

chrisc

[Tonythegardener]

It is a common discussion on our allotment site  because it is impossible to produce potatoes and onions as cheaply as farm produced ones, . This always ends in the same consensus.  It most certainly is because of the following reasons:
         You can choose the varieties with the flavours that you like eating.
        You can grow a variety of different types - for example some potatoes are better for salads, chipping (French fries), jacket potatoes, wedges, boiling, mashing or roasting.
         You know what has gone into the soil.  The chemicals, fertilizer, manure etc.
         You know what has been sprayed onto the vegetables – nothing in my case.
         You can crop them whenever you like.
        You can crop, prepare and eat them within 30 minutes and that is when the real flavour of garden produced vegetables are noticeably different from shop bought ones.

As for potato and onion, so it is for all the other vegetables you produce from your garden.  Furthermore, you can grow a variety of different vegetables that might be difficult or impossible to buy in shops.  Vegetables like oca, okra, American land cress, swede, minzuna, lambs lettuce, salsify, scorzonera, Jerusalem artichoke, beetroot, celeriac, Florence fennel and kohlrabi are unlikely to be at the forefront of your shopping list but can be grown relatively easily in the garden. 


Moreover, you are able to eat greater quantities of these vegetables; more often; at their peak and younger than you could if you had to buy them from a shop.


If you go to the expense of buying asparagus maybe once a year, compare this with the number of times you will be eating relatively large portions of it when you grow your own.  I don’t grow it because I don’t like the taste, it has a relatively short season and it takes up inordinate amounts of room on the allotment.


When the tomatoes and peppers start to crop, I have them in salad every day together with; several kinds of lettuce, rocket, lambs lettuce, minzuna, pickled beetroot, pickled onions, radish, spring onion, mange tout peas, spinach and baby leaved red cabbage.   Would you go out and buy that lot from a shop every day?


Growing herbs both for teas and for culinary purposes seems to be eminently sensible not only because of the price of herbs but also because they are easy to grow.  Parsley, mint, thyme, basil, chamomile, dill, sage and rosemary all make a cracking tea but also add to many dishes.  I like a little chamomile, parsley, mint and dill in salads.   


Perpetual  spinach, chard and rhubarb keep growing back after being harvested in the same way as cut and come again lettuce, lambs lettuce and minzuna.  This means that it is difficult to eat enough to stop them from going to seed. You get a greater and tastier crop if you pick beans, peas, squashes, courgettes and broccoli flowers when they are young and more flavoursome.


If you preserve your vegetables then you can eat them the year round. This is also true of the more staple vegetables like peas and beans. Moreover, a lot of vegetables can be stored by freezing, salting, drying, pickling, clamping, etc. so that you can eat them throughout the year.   Onions, garlic and shallots will keep for long periods if you dry them well.  Pumpkins and squashes will stay fresh if stored in a frost free place.  Beans and peas can be frozen as can a great variety of other fruit and vegetables and used throughout the year.  Various other ways of preserving such as salting and pickling can be used to preserve vegetables to make their season longer.


So these are just some of the reasons why I grow my own vegetables.