Yes, I know we like to harp on about must-have vegetables and herbs here at Awapuni. The problem is, once you start growing and enjoying home-grown food, the list of must-haves seems to grow too. But I really do think onions are at the top of that list and should be grown in every vegetable garden.

In my vegetable garden I like to grow red onions. But I don’t stop there. I also stagger plant spring onions, regular brown Pukekohe Longkeeper onions, pearl drop onions and red bunching spring onions. For the newbie gardeners out there, stagger planting (or staggering) is when you plant a few seedlings of the same varieties (i.e. broccoli or onions) every few weeks to ensure you have a constant supply of produce ready to harvest. 

Order your onion seedlings from our online store. 

You can grow onions pretty much anywhere in the garden – they also grow well in pots. But make sure the soil is friable (goes crumbly when you touch it). If it’s not, simply give it a good dig over and add a bit of compost and fertiliser.

Red and Pukekohe Longkeeper onions need to be planted 10cm apart. And if you’re growing them in rows, make the rows 20cm apart. I like to companion plant spinach in between the rows. Or you could try growing spring onions in between. They will be ready to harvest much earlier at around six to eight weeks, so will be out of the rows before the larger onions need the space. Simply, plant your spring onions around 4cm apart from the next.

You can harvest your spring onions at any time. But the longer you leave them the bigger they will get until they go to seed. Your larger onions will take around 20 to 24 weeks to get ready and you can tell when they are because they start to pop right out of the ground. If they start to flower, we also recommend harvesting them as onions that have started to bolt or go to seed don’t store very well. Don’t worry if they’re green, you can still eat them.