Are you adding onions to your garden this year? Good idea! Not only are onions easy to grow, but they are a tasty and nutritional complement to wide variety of dishes!

One cup of raw onion contains 20% of the recommended daily value of Vitamin C. Onions are rich in chromium which helps facilitate insulin and manage blood sugar levels and also contain potassium, phosphorus, and calcium.

Green Onions vs Bulb Onions

KCCG offers two types of onions - green onions and bulb onions. Onion sets produce green onions while our onion plants produce bulbs. Below are the varieties we offer for each type of onion:

Onion Plants (for bulbs):

• 'Candy' (yellow) - 90 days - Successfully grown in any area. Unique, sweet and mild flavor, early maturity, jumbo bulb size. Stores 3 months. (hybrid)

• 'Candy Apple' (red) - 100 days - Sweet at harvest becomes more pungent during storage. Stores 4-6 months. (hybrid)

• 'Superstar' (white) - 100 days - Earlier, milder, sweeter, larger, and more widely adapted than other white onions. Easiest variety to grow for large onions. (hybrid)

Onion Sets (for green onions)

• Red

• White

• Yellow

Planting:

• In the Kansas City area, plant between March 15th and April 15th.

• Choose a weed-free, well-drained area in full sun to plant. Raised beds are ideal!

For Sets:

• Plant the set with the root end down.

• The sets should be planted about half an inch deep with the tip of the set sticking out of the ground.

• The sets should be planted in rows spaced 2-3” apart.

For Plants:

• Plant onion plants 1 inch deep with the root end facing down.

• The plants will stick out of the ground about 4-6” apart.

• The plants should be planted in rows spaced 4-6” apart.

Care:

• Water at time of planting.

• Onions have shallow root systems and require regular and even watering and good weeding.

• Water weekly when weather is dry and mulch well to retain moisture and keep down weeds.

Harvest and Storage:

Sets (Green Onions):

• Once shoots reach 5-6” tall they are ready to harvest.

• If kept in the ground longer, the onion will continue to grow.

• Once the top of the shoot has folded over, the onion is done growing.

Onion Plants (Bulbs):

• After the tops of the onion plants have folded over, leave them in the ground for another 10 days.

• Harvest by pulling the plant and bulb from the ground.

• Let them sit in the sun for a day or two to dry.

• After drying, move the onions to a warm dry place to fully cure– usually one or two weeks.

• The green stem can be removed before or after drying. Just be sure to not cut too close to the bulb.

• Once dried, store in a cool dry place keeping the skins on to prevent rot.

If you would like to download and print an onion guide sheet, click here.