If you are starting your onions inside like us, the leaves get tall by week three. It’s exciting to see all of this growth for sure, but the leaves become heavy and flop over in the garden, resulting in them looking matted and dirty.
We don’t want that!
So, we like to cut the leaves back with scissors. Week three we cut them back by 2-3”, and we will do it again one or two times before they are planted in the ground at the end of April. Just a quick snip, it takes less than 3 in if you have 900 (like us!) or less, haha.
Why do we do this?
By cutting down the leaves, there is less plant to feed, which means the energy and growth will focus in the root, resulting is a bigger vegetable that lasts us longer in the kitchen (because its bigger!).
And that’s what we want! More veggies coming from each plant.
It also gives us onions that are more uniform in size, so that’s a nice plus.
Also, we like to have a really pretty garden, and having onions with strong leaves that stand up straight definitely add to the aesthetic! We don’t want any sad leaves that fall over and get stepped on.
Some states like Idaho (where we live) regulate what types of onions you can bring into the state in actual plant form, because they don’t want plants that are carrying diseases, so by planting the seeds ourselves, the state is okay with it. This is because these suckers (the seeds) don’t carry any disease when they come from a reliable seed company likes ours do (we like to use Johnny’s Seeds).
One variety that we like to grow is the Alisa Craig onion (pictured above). They stores for months and months, all while staying firm and tasting great. They are also a big onion!
If you want to see a video of Leo cutting back the onions and explaining more of his thoughts about onion growth, visit our instagram and watch the IGTV dated 2/23/21.
Do you have any questions about how to grow your onions? Did you learn anything new? Let us know in the comments!