Growing Spring Onions/Scallions with Video Tutorial Courtesy GIY Ireland

Spring Onions/Scallions

Why Grow It?

Quick growing, useful and deliciously mild, spring onions are the quintessential salad crop.   They can be grown in containers or anywhere you have some space.  A great crop for kids to grow.

Sowing

Spring onions like a rich, well drained soil in a sunny location.  They are best sown in module trays indoors for later transplanting.  Sow about 8-10 seeds per module.  About a month later plant out each little clump of spring onions, spacing the clumps about 20cm apart.  Alternatively, you can sow direct in the soil if you rake it to a fine tilth first.   Make drills about 1.5cm deep and 15cm apart.  Sow the seed thinly in to the drill and then cover with soil.  It doesn’t really matter if the onions are growing close together because (a) you are not trying to grow bulbs and (b) you can remove and eat as way to thin them out.  Sow little and often (perhaps every forthnight) between March to July. A sowing of a winter hardy spring onion variety in Autumn will give you an early spring crop.

Growing

Keep them in your allium (onion, garlic, leeks etc) rotation to prevent build up of diseases such as onion white rot.  Hoe between the rows to keep weeds down.  In the event of a dry summer (or if growing in a greenhouse or polytunnel), water well.

Harvesting

Spring onions are ready to eat when about 15cm tall (usually about 2 months after sowing). They don’t keep well once harvested, so simply pull what you need and leave the rest to grow on.

Recommended Varieties

• Ishikura Bunching
• White Lisbon

Problems

They are so quick growing, they generally don’t get affected by pests or diseases.  They are relatively easy to grow.

GIY Tips

1. Of course spring onions are great raw in salads, but don’t forget that they are the classic stirfry vegetable too.
2. Don’t forget that thinnings of regular bulb varieties of onion can be used as “spring” onions too.