Home Garden Secrets. Part 5

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

In this issue of "Secrets of the Home Garden" I would like to dwell in more detail on the cultivation of such a culture on the windowsill as green onions in winter. This is what plant is most often demanded in winter by housewives for cooking. And just putting a bunch of freshly cut green onions with borscht or pieces of bacon for dinner or for lunch will be an excellent vitamin supplement to ordinary winter food

Why green onions?

Home-grown onions are like no other green crop. And the vitamins in it are countless. It contains especially a lot of special essential oils and vitamin C, which resist viral and colds, support human immunity in winter, full of epidemics and colds.

Lighter than onions, no other crop is grown at home. In principle, it will grow in any soil or just in water. But you need to know just a few factors that will improve its growth, increase the yield, and make it stable. If you take all these factors to mind, then you and your family will be provided with green onions for the entire period from late autumn to May in the desired amount. These are the points to remember when growing green onions at home.

Both in moisture and in soil

It is quite possible to grow green onions at home in two well-known ways. The first, the most familiar to us, is by hydroponics, or, more simply, in an aquatic environment (in a glass, in a jar). The second method is in the ground.

You can make such a mini-bed to reduce the area on the windowsill occupied by the bow.

You make holes in it, add soil, lay out the bow, turning it towards the hole with the part from which the green arrows will grow afterwards. Next, add the soil again, put the bulbs again.

When using the hydroponic method, such a container can be filled not with soil, but, for example, with cut mineral wool. Only you need to work with it with gloves so that there is no inflammation on the skin of your hands.

Choosing the right seed onion

Scallions will produce an excellent harvest of their green leaf-shoots, if the right bulb is chosen from which they will grow. Select dense, rot-free, round bulbs. The root of the onion should be well-formed and large. It is good if such bulbs are already slightly sprouted. Sprouted bulbs are more likely to get green arrows. A healthy bulb should have a shiny skin.

For non-sprouted bulbs, slightly cut the head of the bulb with a parallel line to the root. This will speed up the release of the green feather from the bulb. When planting the bulb in the ground, it should be soaked in water in advance to accelerate the germination of feathers. When planting it hydroponically, you do not need to soak the bulbs.

Temperature range for growing onion feathers

In general, onions are resistant to cold weather. Even if it grows in the open field in the garden. To release arrows, the optimum temperature for it is about 20 degrees with a plus sign. But the onion cannot stand excessive heating. For example, from a heating battery or from sunlight. So that the feather is driven out sooner, you can increase the impact on the bulb with a temperature of up to 24 degrees plus. But if the temperature is higher than this value, from 27 to 30 degrees, this technique will stop the growth of greens near the bulb.

What kind of soil do onions like?

If you prefer hydroponics, then you need to arrange the bulbs in the solution so that they do not float in it, otherwise they will start to rot. For example, put the onion in a glass or jar - cover it with cardboard with a slot in the center and place the onion in the water with its roots in the slot. The water should contain only its roots.

Onions are neutral to additional moisture. There is? Good. No? Will survive. But if you spray the feather of an onion that has released only its sprouts, it will be more juicy. It is necessary to spray on the feather, and not on the bulb.

When growing onions in soil - give preference to neutral soils with neutral acidity (PH 6-7). Also, the soil should be loose, well-drained. Onions do not like dense soil. You can dilute the soil with humus or a special filler such as vermiculite for better drainage and looseness.

Other wisdom

Onions, in principle, will do without additional fertilizers. As an experiment, you can use complex fertilizers for better growth and higher yields. But no overdose!

When planting onions in a container, jar or other habitat, do not immediately put the installation on the windowsill. Let the onion "chase" in a cool, shaded area to form a root system. This should be done within 7-10 days.

Then you need to immediately give the onion a lot of daylight. The easiest way to do this is on the glazed loggia. But there should be no frost! Heat the room so that the onions do not freeze, supplement the lack of light with fluorescent lamps or special lamps for plant growth and supplementary lighting. The onion can be given light around the clock. So do not turn off the lamps at night.

If the sun outside the window is too hot and intense, wrap the container with the onions in foil. That is, as mentioned above, for good growth and harvest, onions need to be provided with an air temperature of up to 24 degrees Celsius and a lot of light.