How to grow green onions at home

How great it is in summer and winter to always have fresh herbs on hand, for example, onion feathers. After all, it is so often needed for salads and pies, and it is very easy to grow it right on the windowsill. In this resource, you will find 2 step-by-step instructions on how to grow green onions at home on water or in soil.

Method 1. How to grow onions for herbs in water

It would seem that this method of growing onions at home is so simple and known to everyone that it does not even require instructions. After all, you just need to put the head in water and wait for the harvest. However, this method has two problems - the rapid decay of the vegetable and the appearance of an unpleasant odor. To minimize these costs and speed up the growth process, we suggest growing onions using the following improved instructions.

What you need:

1. Common onion from the store. Ideally, it is best to pick up an already sprouted bow with small arrows. Any medium-sized bow will do, however, as long as the head is firm and healthy.
2. A glass or jar with a small neck.
3. Standing water.
4. Activated carbon 1-2 tablets.

Instructions:

Step 1. First of all, you need to prepare the onion for distillation. To do this, we first clean the onion from the top layer of the husk, pierce its root cup with a skewer and cut off the top of the head by 1-1.5 cm as shown in the photo (if the onion is already sprouted, then the top does not need to be cut off).

Step 3. After one day, when the roots grow on the onion, you can drain a little water from the glass so that the water only covers them and does not touch the cup. This simple trick will keep the onions from rotting and smelling longer.

Step 4. It remains only to wait 2 weeks and during this time periodically change the water. Once the feathers have germinated to about 15cm, it's time to harvest.

Tips and Tricks:

• To prevent the onion from rotting even longer, add 1-2 tablets of activated carbon to the water.
• If you want to sprout a lot of onions at home, while spending a minimum of effort, purchase the Onion Happiness hydroponic plant in the store. It works as follows: 20 heads are inserted into the wells, the container is filled with water, then the compressor creates an air-water environment. Due to the fact that the root cups hardly come into contact with water, the bulbs do not rot, and due to the saturation of the roots with oxygen, they give 2 crops per month, 30-40 cm long.

• It is very convenient to germinate a dozen bulbs in an egg carton on the windowsill at once. To build such a "hydroponic installation" with your own hands, you just need to divide the container into two halves, cut holes in the cells of the upper "tier", and fill the lower "pan" with water and cut off the extra bumps from it. Then fold the two pieces on top of each other and place wooden skewers between them, as shown in the photo below.

• By the same principle, you can also grow leeks bought in a store on the windowsill with your own hands. To do this, cut off the white roots from the feathers (in the photo below), and then place them in a container with water, only 1 cm deep. Leave the roots in water for 2 weeks, changing it periodically (preferably every day). However, a week after forcing, when young shoots appear, the leek can be transplanted into the ground.

Method 2. How to grow onions for herbs in the ground

It is best to grow onions on a feather at home in the soil, and not in water. It is almost as simple, but the bulb will be able to produce at least 2 crops, stand for 1-2 months, and at the same time practically not emit a smell. In addition, if you plant turnips in a pretty pot, then your mini-garden will also decorate your windowsill.

What you need:

1. Priming. In winter, you can purchase a suitable soil in the store (for example, it can be a mixture for cacti with a high content of sand, or just a universal soil), and in summer you can take soil from the nearest land plot.
2. Several small healthy bulbs, preferably not fresh, but lying down for a couple of months and sprouted. If you wish, you can grow sets on a feather, but then the feathers will have to wait longer, and you will not be able to use the sprouted set a second time. Another alternative to onions is leeks. It must first be germinated in water for 7 days (as described in the first instruction) and only then transplanted into the ground.
3. A container, pot, or any other container of a suitable size.
4. Standing water for irrigation.

Instructions:

Step 1. From the selected turnips, remove one layer of the upper husk, cut off 1-1.5 cm of the tops (if the bulbs are without sprouts), and then soak their root cups for a couple of hours or more in warm water so that they germinate a little. All of these techniques will speed up feather growth.

Step 2. While the bulbs are soaking, fill the soil with a depth of 4-7 cm into the container.

Step 3. Now we plant the bulbs or sets every 2 cm, but without deepening. That is, so that only the root cups of the heads come into contact with the soil. Remember that the less the bulb is in contact with the soil, the less likely it is to rot. Once you have planted all the onions, pour a little warm water over the soil to keep the soil slightly moist without the onions getting wet.

• To plant a set on a feather, you need to use loose soil and plant the onions 1-2 cm deep, tightly to each other.
• To plant leeks, it must also be dug into loose soil to a depth of 2 cm.However, it will take longer to wait for the harvest - about three weeks.

Step 4. You should not immediately place the onion bed on the windowsill: it is better to put it in a dark, cool place for germination for literally a few days. If you have planted an onion that is already lying and sprouted, then you can do without this stage.

Step 5. Well, that's all. Now all that remains is to wait a couple of weeks for the greens to grow to 15 cm, and at this time lightly water the garden once every 3-4 days. You need to cut off mature feathers in the middle of the bunch and not too close to the bulb, then it will have sprouts that will soon give the next harvest.

Tips and Tricks:

• To save space on the windowsill, you can create a vertical bed with your own hands. To do this, take a 5-liter plastic bottle with a stable bottom, cut off its neck, make several holes at the bottom and cut holes on the walls in a checkerboard pattern at intervals of 3-4 cm (you will get about 4 tiers). Then gradually start filling the bottle with soil.

• Once the soil reaches the first tier, place the bulbs in the holes as shown in the photo above, water the soil and repeat the above steps to fill the bottle to the very top. Place the bottle on a plate and water the soil every 4 days for 2 weeks.

• Leeks and onions can be grown in the same garden bed.
• Another secret: to always have fresh herbs in the house, grow onions in 2-3 containers, planting them every 10 days. Then you will have a "vitamin conveyor".
• To speed up the growth process and improve the taste of greenery, in the evening and at night, the garden bed on the windowsill can be illuminated with a fluorescent lamp. This advice is especially relevant in winter.
• Also, for greater juiciness, you can periodically spray the feathers, but so that moisture does not get on the turnips themselves.
• In summer, make sure that the temperature in the area of ​​the windowsill where the onion grows does not rise above 30 °. Otherwise, the feather will stop growing. To protect the crop from overheating, you can wrap the tray with foil.