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Post by claude on Jun 19, 2015 20:00:38 GMT -5
Yes, those are walking onions..the bulbetts are at the tips of the frons, they fall to the ground and start another plant. You can dig up the parent plant and use it, use the onion bulbetts for cocktail onions, or just plant the bulbetts. They require very little care and indeed will seemingly walk away..
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kew56
Sprout
eastern SD zone 4
Posts: 25
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Post by kew56 on Jun 20, 2015 11:19:41 GMT -5
They're walking onions. You can transplant the the existing onions or plant the bulb-lets. In the fall the stems fall over and plant the bulb-lets on their own (walking). For us they get woody when the bulb-lets start to show, so we enjoy them in the spring (they are one of the first things to come up). They make great onion soup. The bulb-lets can be pickled but its a lot of work.
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canadiyank
Blooming
Central WA, Zone 6B
Posts: 125
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Post by canadiyank on Jun 23, 2015 23:14:52 GMT -5
use the onion bulbetts for cocktail onions Speaking of - how DO you grow those little pearl onion that are often pickled? I love those. I've never seen them for sale to plant...starts...seeds...? Probably not sets b/c they're about the size of sets, ha ha! Or maybe they ARE sets? Hmmm!
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Post by tom π on Oct 6, 2019 10:41:48 GMT -5
Do I really need these things? Yes, you need them -- if you are interested in growing your own healthful food. Don't eat the bulb! It's poisonous. Just kidding, but if you eat the bulb, it will poison your mind against these onions. The bulb is the worst part of the walking onion. Grow them for greens. Once the bublets form at top, they are too old for greens. Yes, every day, three meals a day -- when I can get them. Today I had them chopped with breakfast (fish fillet, chopped walking onions, rice, figs, a little tomato, bread -- a cheap breakfast, and that will be breakfast tomorrow, and tomorrow, etc., until I am out of ingredients. I am a monotonous cook). Then I cooked a soup with chopped walking onions. Already sampled my soup. It's perfect. There is no serious problem with walking onions except the delusion of gardeners that the purpose of onions is to eat the bulb. Get over this mental affliction (took me three decades), and you (like me) will be obsessed with walking onions. Guarantee.
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Post by Mumsey on Oct 8, 2019 4:13:11 GMT -5
tom π, I have never liked the bulb of the walking onions either. Dad has them, I do like the greens.
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Post by James on Oct 10, 2019 10:31:19 GMT -5
Yep, you grow the walking onions for the greens, not the bulb. Keep one mother clump. When the lil bulbils come on, clip them off and separate them and go plant a row of onions. Very soon you will have loads of lil green onions. Enjoy!
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Post by datgirl on Oct 10, 2019 19:08:18 GMT -5
I have those onions coming up everywhere in the garden. Those little bulbs spring up everywhere.
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Post by tom π on Oct 10, 2019 20:15:21 GMT -5
Preparing walking onions greens
1. In the fall a clump can be pull up. In the spring when the clumps have a strong root system, I cut around the clump with a garden knife before pulling. Soil is shaken off back into the bed.
2. The clumps are washed with a garden hose.
3. Roots are cut off with clippers and dead and damaged leaves removed.
4. A knife is worked between each stalk in a clump to separate the stalks. Then the remains of the bulb are peeled off and discarded.
5. The stalks are washed again, bundled into a bread bag, and refrigerated. If the stalks are long, two bags -- one for the bottom and one for the top -- are needed.
6. To use, pieces about 1/4 inch long are cut crosswise from the top of the bundle with kitchen shears. A cup of green onion pieces can be cut quickly. If not cut in small pieces, the onions will cook up tough. A bundle of green onions usually lasts me about five days.
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Post by tom π on Oct 10, 2019 20:25:59 GMT -5
I have those onions coming up everywhere in the garden. Those little bulbs spring up everywhere. I have them coming up in clumps just outside raised beds where the seed stalks have fallen. I separate the clumps and plant them for onions next spring.
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Post by datgirl on Oct 11, 2019 8:01:15 GMT -5
I dig out clumps and give them away, I throw them in the compost pile where they multiply more, I throw them in the woods. They are everywhere. It's ok though,not a bad thing.
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Post by tom π on Oct 11, 2019 9:18:43 GMT -5
I dig out clumps and give them away, I throw them in the compost pile where they multiply more, I throw them in the woods. They are everywhere. It's ok though,not a bad thing. Yes, they return like a bad penny. If they didn't, I wouldn't have any now because I grew them and stopped growing them repeatedly before I finally found a way to use them.
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Post by tom π on Oct 17, 2019 13:13:42 GMT -5
As a test, I have had chopped green walking onions with every meal for the past 30 days. The question is, Do they affect blood clotting? My experience in the past was that they didn't seem to, but I wasn't sure. Today I went in for my monthly blood-clotting test. Results were good: blood-clotting time was within the safe range. I conclude from this experiment that chopped green walking onions are safe for persons on warfarin.
Green onions are relatively high in vitamin K. Vitamin K hastens blood clotting. However, alliums act as blood thinners that delay clotting. Apparently these two factors offset each other, at least in the case of strong-tasting walking onions. Maybe this is not so for bland grocery store green onions. I have read that the American public is deficient in vitamin K, which also contributes to bone health. So, walking onions for everyone!
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Post by tom π on Oct 26, 2019 11:15:34 GMT -5
At the top, trashy walking onions after the mud has been rinsed off. Their trashiness is why most gardeners do not use them even if they have them. Next down, cleaned walking onions. See how pretty they are? Tasty, too. Next down, bagged for the refrigerator. Once I have them in the refrigerator I will use them. Keep them in your refrigerator, and you will use them too. At the bottom, what remains of a bowl of chopped walking onions. That's how I use them. I had more in the bowl, but they got spilled while we were trying to get a picture.
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Post by ahntjudy on Oct 26, 2019 13:03:36 GMT -5
How nice and fresh!... I surely do wish I could grow onion family stuff without having to cover everything up against ALM...
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Post by tom π on Dec 6, 2019 16:56:16 GMT -5
This year I was lazy and left many of my walking onions in the ground over the summer. That was a mistake in this climate. They do multiply, but the mother bulb rots and draws onions maggots and other pests, making the onions unhealthy. I am going back to growing walking onions only from bulblets as I have done in the past.
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