vegetable
Onions
Start early or buy plants. Long-day types north of ~36°N, short-day in the South. Bunching onions if you want a win.
- Sun
- Full sun
- Spacing
- 4 in
- Days
- 90–120
- Zones
- 3a–10a
How to sow
Start indoors 10 weeks before last frost, or set plants. Match long-day vs short-day to your latitude. Bunching types skip the lecture.
Harvest
Bulbs when tops fall. Cure in dry shade. Bunching onions are cut-and-come-again.
Mistakes that waste a packet
- A short-day onion in the north
- Planting grocery onions that were treated
- Letting weeds shade the bulbs
Three packets
Yellow Sweet Spanish
BeginnerA long-day storage onion for the north if you start it in late winter.
Tokyo Bunching
BeginnerThe first-year onion. Cut greens, skip the bulb math.
Red Burgundy
FlavorA short-day type for the South. Do not grow it in Minnesota and wonder.
Partner links may earn us a commission. We do not warehouse these packets. See indoor start dates for your ZIP.
Related
Tomatoes
Start indoors. Match days-to-maturity to the weeks you actually have after last frost.
Peppers
Need more heat and a longer indoor start than tomatoes. Short-season varieties matter north of zone 7.
Lettuce
The crop that makes a first garden feel like a garden. Sow in spring and again in late summer.
The sow list
A note when it is time to sow
Seasonal, not daily. We will send what to start in your zone, and skip the rest of the year.
No spam. Unsubscribe any time. Partner links may appear in letters.