Planting onion seeds in the fall before winter. How is the planting of black onions before winter

Nigella is not an onion variety, as its seeds are called. it perennial... Planting black onions before winter allows you to independently grow planting material adapted specifically to the conditions of your garden for obtaining onions and leaf onions. The roots and leaves of this plant are rich in various nutrients, especially vitamin C and essential oils.

It has pronounced antimicrobial properties and helps the human body cope with all kinds of ailments (for example, with the onset of a cold caused by hypothermia or viruses).

How does onion grow

Onions are a traditional product used as a seasoning or an addition to many dishes on our table, and there are many lovers of crunching with fresh herbs. This plant is grown by almost everyone who has their own garden or personal plot.

Nigella (seeds) ripens in umbrella-shaped, spherical flowers that form on the arrows of an adult plant. They look like black seeds of a small size within 2 mm. In the wild, they enter the soil, hibernate, and in the next summer season they form small onions up to 3 cm in diameter.

Chernushka is the popular name for seeds. onions, which are obtained from arrows of a turnip bow.

From these bulbs, called "sevok", the next year already get the usual onion fruit and leaves-feathers, which are used for food and decorate our dishes.

Many gardeners begin to plant the purchased seed, skipping the first year of the natural growing season, which negatively affects the entire yield of these fruits and increases the degree of susceptibility to disease. Such onions are also more easily affected by their natural pest "onion fly", which lays its larvae on the leaves. Penetrating directly into the root crop itself for further growth, they make the plant and its root completely unsuitable for food, long-term storage.

Planting black onions before winter

So, you have chosen nigella: planting it, as a method of growing, is most close to natural life cycle and allows you to get good yields and fruits from the grown seedlings that are immune to garden diseases present in your region. Onions grown using this method have larger roots and a natural ability to resist pests.

Before the onset of constant frosts (in the fall, when October comes), the beds are dug up. They are made up to 20 cm high and located in sunny and elevated places. In the loosened earth fertilized with humus, grooves are laid with a depth of about 2 cm.

With the establishment of permanent frosts, onion seeds are planted and looked after. Nigella is planted at the rate of slightly less than 100 seeds per 1 running meter. The grooves are located at a distance of 15-20 cm.

For convenience, control over the number of crops, you can sculpt the nigella (before sowing) in ordinary chalk powder.

Sowed grooves are sprinkled on top with earth and flavored with humus, a small layer of sawdust or peat. It is not recommended to water the beds after sowing, because at this time scabs can form on them, which in spring will prevent melt water from entering the soil.


Chernushka is a frost-resistant plant, but for greater confidence in the non-freezing of the soil and the preservation of the roots of the beds, it is necessary to cover for the winter with a layer of last year's foliage and branches for better snow retention.

The advantages of this growing scheme

Despite the apparent complexity, such planting and care, as a method of growing sets, is much easier and more economical:

  • the choice of varieties is much larger (at the stage of black onion) than that of the set;
  • seedlings are hardened and adapted to the conditions of your region;
  • the problem of storing seed disappears and space in the cellar is freed up;
  • in the spring, time is freed up that must be devoted to planting other crops;
  • melt water will provide the necessary soil moisture and save you from additional labor costs related to irrigation.

In winter, it is necessary to check that the beds are covered with a uniform layer of snow. In the spring, cover materials are removed from thawed beds and calendula or garden marigolds are planted along their edges. These plants promote onion growth and ward off pests.

Then samples and turnips. But in recent years, farmers are increasingly choosing growing onions from seeds because this method makes it possible to get ready-made onions in just one season, and it is also better to store them in the winter. In addition, the planting material is more profitable in price in comparison with the set or onion selection.

If you set out to grow onions from seeds, first of all, you need to decide on the varieties. The best option for annual growing will be low-ear varieties:

1. Golden spool,

2. Early pink,

3. Odintsovo,

4. Annual Siberian,

5. Annual Hawk,

6. Mstersky,

7. Strigunovsky,

8. Myachkovsky 300,

9. Danilovsky 301.

You can also give preference to the brightly colored hybrids of Dutch breeders (yellow-brown, white, red) - in one season they produce excellent round bulbs. Preferred hybrid varieties: Stardust F1, which produces a lot of green feathers, early fruitful Spirit F1 and Red Baron, which are valued for their high yield and good keeping quality. Multi-nest varieties are not suitable for annual cultivation, because they produce deformed bulbs.

Growing turnip onions from nigella

Known growing onions from seeds 3 methods: preliminary cultivation of seedlings, podzimnim sowing and sowing in the ground in early spring. Nigella should be sown in the spring, as soon as the soil thaws a little - then the bulbs will have time to ripen in one season. In this case, the seedlings need to be prepared from the last days of February, and in mid-April, the prepared seedlings should be planted in the ground. As for the winter sowing of seeds, then it is produced on slightly frozen soil so that the seeds do not have time to germinate in the fall.

For any option, the soil is prepared in advance, in the fall. To do this, they dig up the earth, add peat or compost, add mineral fertilizers. It is best to form the beds in a sunny, open place. The best predecessors are tomatoes, cucumbers, legumes, potatoes, cabbage. The height of the beds is 15 cm, the width is no more than 80 cm.

Cooking onion seeds for sowing

What is the best way to grow onions from seeds in one season so that they have time to ripen before frost? It is important to pre-process the nigella - this will make it possible to shorten the period between sowing and the appearance of the first shoots, accelerating the formation of bulbs and the development of plants.

For a month, nigella needs to be checked for germination. To do this, take 20 seeds and keep them in a damp cloth for 2-3 weeks. If germination is good, 80% of the seeds will germinate. Before sowing, it is important to treat the nigella with a solution of potassium permanganate in order to get rid of pathogens of fungal diseases. The seeds are also soaked for 12-18 hours in water or dipped for a day in a warm solution of a fruit formation stimulant (1 g of a substance per 1 spoon of water) to accelerate germination. After soaking, the nigella should be dried for 20 minutes in the open air until it becomes free-flowing, after which the seeds can be sown.

We sow nigella in the ground before winter or spring

After the soil thaws in the spring, you need to dig 2 cm deep rows on the beds, and leave 20 cm between the rows. The seeds are sown sparsely - about 80 seeds per 1 m row, that is, per 1 sq. M. you will need 1.5 grams of nigella. It is recommended to dust the seeds with chalk / tooth powder - then the location and consumption can be conveniently controlled. On top of the nigella sprinkle with humus, peat or sawdust in a layer of 2 cm. Crops are not watered in order to avoid the formation of a crust, which will make it difficult to sprout.

After you notice the appearance of 1-2 true leaves at the shoots, you need to thin out the plants, removing all weak shoots - there should be a distance of 2 cm between the shoots.After 3-4 leaves are formed, you need to carry out a second thinning, expanding distance up to 5 cm. The removed delicate greens can be eaten. The onions should be watered until mid-July, and the topsoil should be loosened regularly throughout the season. Do not forget to feed the seedlings like onion sets.

At the beginning of September, when the onion leaves fall, you can start harvesting. It is important to do this at least 10 days before frost. Dry the harvested onions under a canopy or in the beds for a week, peel them of dry feathers and store them.

Growing onions from seeds using the winter method

The earth must be prepared in the same way as described earlier, form beds, cut the same grooves and leave them until the cold weather. After the onset of the first frosts, the nigella should be sown in rows and sprinkled with a layer of humus of 2-3 cm. Pay attention to the fact that the beds should be covered with snow in winter. And in the spring, when the snow cover melts, the bare seeds are sprinkled with humus or peat.

We grow seedlings from onion seeds

There are varieties of onions that are grown exclusively from seedlings, due to which the growing season is extended, and planting material is consumed less. In early March, they begin to sow nigella in a greenhouse, greenhouse, or in an apartment on a windowsill. Onion seeds are sown in boxes with a pre-prepared soil mixture (the same as for tomato seedlings) with row spacing of 5 cm.

Until the first shoots appear, the temperature in the room should be +25 degrees, then the temperature drops to +12 in the daytime and +8 at night (at home, the boxes are taken out onto the balcony) for 4-5 days. For growing seedlings in the future, +15 +18 degrees will be enough. It is also important to consider additional lighting with fluorescent lamps in order to increase the length of daylight hours for seedlings.

At the end of April, 3-4 real feathers should appear in onion seedlings, and the seedling height should be about 12-15 cm. Before planting seedlings in open ground for onions, 1/3 of the leaves should be cut off and the roots should be shortened until they reach a length of 2 cm. Seedlings are planted in beds, keeping a distance of 5 cm in a row, and between rows - 30-40 cm. Around the plants, the soil should be pressed to the roots. 2 days after planting, the onions can be watered and the soil can be slightly loosened. All further retreat is similar to that described above.

Growing onions from seeds has one drawback - plant growth can last until the moment of harvest. It fully ripens only if the autumn is dry and warm. If the onion is not ripe, then it will be poorly stored - all of it will need to be consumed before the beginning of the winter period. Therefore, it is best to sow nigella in the fall or by preparing seedlings at home.