Everyone knows that onions and garlic sprout en masse in the spring. And even if all storage conditions for these root crops are met (temperature from 0 to +2°C, air humidity in the cellar from 70 to 75%, ventilation), no one is immune from the appearance of specimens with hatched greens.
I always select such bulbs for forcing vitamin greens at home. And if I come across sprouted heads of garlic and onions in a supermarket or market, I definitely buy them, since sellers, in the hope of getting rid of substandard goods, offer decent discounts.
You can grow green onions in water.
However, I prefer to grow allium greens in fertile soil. According to my observations, when using garden soil as a substrate, the harvest of succulent greens can be cut up to 4 times, while in water the bulbs are depleted after the second cutting.
And to save space on the windowsill, I fill all the space between the onion heads with garlic cloves.
Small and large cloves of garlic are placed tightly between the edges of the container and the corners of large heads, as if put together in a puzzle.These plants get along well in common planting containers, although if desired, they can be grown separately.
My experience of growing onion and garlic greens at home
It is very convenient to use deep rectangular containers in which portioned pieces of poultry are sold. They are very compact, but at the same time mobile, and excess containers can always be moved from window sill to window sill.
For planting, I choose sprouted bulbs and heads of garlic. I sow even the smallest cloves selected from the inner circle of spring varieties of garlic. In my experience, a planted onion head is more likely to dry out than a small garlic clove not to sprout. If there are not enough hatched specimens to fill the container, then I take a dry onion of suitable size, and be sure to cut off its top with a sharp knife.
As a substrate I use soil collected directly from the garden.
In such soil, bulbs and cloves take root and develop well. Green plants rarely need to be watered. In winter, when seedlings experience a lack of light, they consume very little water, and it is necessary to moisten the soil ball no more than once a week.
In spring and early summer, when I move all the containers with greens to the open balcony in sunny places, watering the green garlic and onions is done every 2-3 days, as the soil in the containers dries out.
Once every 2 weeks I make sure to feed the greens with ash infusion prepared at the rate of 1 tbsp. l. ash per 1 liter of water (leave for three days). The addition of ash, rich in phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium and microelements, improves the conditions for the development of seedlings and the biochemical composition of the leaves.
I start cutting feathers when their height reaches 15 cm.I never have the patience to wait for the growth of thirty centimeters of greenery. If some onion in the container dries out, then in its place I immediately plant onions that sprouted during storage in the apartment.
As you can see, there is nothing complicated about growing green onions and garlic. I recommend trying to grow onion vegetables for greens in order to meet the family’s needs for succulent sprouts from early spring to early summer.
Have an easy time growing vegetables and flowers in your mini garden!
