The fall is the best time of year to plant onions in the garden. And for many great reasons!
To begin with, it’s a welcome change of pace to be able to plant in the crisp autumn air. Especially after caring for, weeding, and harvesting the garden in the summer heat.
In addition, planting onions in the fall is the key to an earlier harvest in the spring. And to top it all off, the onions are bigger, sweeter, and more flavorful than ever before! With these advantages in mind, let’s have a look at how to plant fall onions successfully:
1. When Should You Plant Fall Onions?
When planted in the fall, onions require at least four to six weeks of warm weather to establish themselves. These are long-day onion types, as should be obvious from the name.
The middle of September is a good time to plant fall onion sets in Ohio and other areas. That allows the plants plenty of time to flourish before the winter arrives.
Onion sets are preferred to seed for planting. For starters, they are easy to sow and establish quickly in the ground. Planting seeds evenly can be a challenge. Weeds can quickly take over because they sprout and spread so thinly.
Finally, onion sets just produce larger bulbs. Onion sets are essentially sprouted and somewhat matured onion seeds. Because of this, they will grow larger and mature faster than other animals.
A mix of white, yellow, and red onions is frequently planted each fall to ensure a diverse crop the following year.
Seeds should be planted 3-4 weeks sooner than onion sets if you decide to go that route. This gives them a head start before they become dormant in the fall and grow a root system.
