Growing Onions, Leeks, and Shallots

Hi, I'm Tricia a California organic gardener onions, leeks and shallots are all staples in the kitchen and there good for you healthy for your heart today we're gonna be fall planting onions and leeks from transplants and shallots and onion sets from bulbs onions can be grown a few different ways either from transplants from onions sets or you can start your own onion seeds onion sets are mini dormant onion bulbs which will grow into big onions onion transplants are live onion plants that look like scallions and finally there's onion seed that you can plant and grow your own transplants onions are classified as long day, short day or intermediate day this is less confusing than it sounds the closer to the earth poles you live the more your hours of daylight vary throughout the year long day onions need daylight reaching fourteen to sixteen hours in order to bulb short day onions start to bulb when they get about ten hours a day light intermediate day variates bulb up when the light is between twelve and fourteen hours long story short if you live in the north plant long day in the south short day and immediate day just about everywhere the only places intermediate day wont do well are south florida or south texas these tasty alliums can be planted in the spring or the fall but between October and December is a great time to plant onions and leeks in just about everywhere in the U.S. gophers love onions, shallots, garlic and leeks and I have gopher wire installed at the bottom of all of my raised beds if you don't i suggest that you start with gopher wire as a first step use wire meant for gophers it has smaller holes than chicken wire and is stronger than aviary wire the wire is also galvanized to prevent it from rotting in the ground all of these plants are heavy feeders so I'm going to be sure to add compost, blood meal for nitrogen and bone meal for phosphorus I add one cup of equal parts blood meal and bone meal to every ten feet of row rows should be at least eight inches apart for onions and twenty-four to thirty-six inches apart for leaks organic matter is important loose soil will help size up the bulbs so I'm going to add some organic matter like compost onions can live up to three weeks from their bulb so it doesn't matter what the tops look like if the bulbs are nice an firm the onions are viable I'm ready to plant the onion transplants before i plant I'm just going to trim the tops a little back to the healthy green part plant your onions about four to six inches apart and about one to two inches deep to plant your onion sets you want to do the same spacing as the transplants but you want to plant a little bit shallower make sure that the little root hairs are pointed down in colder climates it's a good idea to use some mulch I'm going to use straw for the leaks I'm going to dig a six inch deep trench as the leeks start to grow i'm gonna start heeling them in order to blanch the stems plant the leeks about two to six inches apart. Leeks send their leaves up exactly opposite one another so you wanna plant the leeks so that the leaves grow into the aisles rather than into each other the leaks will be ready to harvest when they are about two inches in diameter there very cold hardy but you want to make sure and harvest them before it gets too hot or they might bolt for shallots we are going to plant each individual bulb which means we may need to separate the bulbs from one another I'm going to plant the shallots about seven to nine inches apart plant them blunt or hairy root side down and make sure that the tops are just touching the surface of the soil shallots will grow more bulbs from the central bulbs so make sure you give them adequate space also since the tops are showing some birds like pigeons get curious and might try to pull them up if you have those kinds of birds in your area i recommend putting down some bird netting make sure you give your beds adequate water but don't over water because that can cause the bulbs to rot also make sure your alliums are well weeded you can grow weeds or you can grow alliums but you can't grow both your onions should be ready to harvest about midsummer when about half the leaves start to turn yellow then you just want to cure them for a couple of days in a partially shaded area and they'll be ready to store. So enjoy your organic vegetables and grow organic for life!