ONION HINTS

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 625, 30 March 1929, Page 24

ONION HINTS

Though onions will grow on almost any class of soil, they do much better on a rich, loamy soil. When preparing the ground for seed sowing it should be rolled or trampled down as firmly as possible, where the soil is of a light jnature. In the warmer districts, autumn sowings are most desirable, as the onion bulbs have time to develop before the weather becomes too hot. Seed may also be sown in spring, especially where the winters are severe. The white Italian Tripoli is a good cold-climate onion. The silver-skinned onions do not keep so well as the brown-skinned

varieties, and are not so suitable for marketing. But where a nice, mild onion is desired for the small gardens the white varieties are favoured. Plants that are raised from seed sown in autumn will make a fair amount of growth during the winter, and, if transplanted in the early spring into suitable soil, will mature auicker than the spring sown. KEEP ONION BEDS FREE FROM WEEDS There is nothing more damaging to the young onion plants than lack of cultivation. Weeds should never be allowed to grow with them, and where the plants are overcrowded they should be carefully thinned out to the regular distance. Five or six inches will allow them plenty of room to develop. DANGER OF OVER-WATERING If we desire the onions to keep for any length of time, they should not be watered too often, as excessive moisture in the ground will be absorbed by the bulb. The drier the onions can be grown the longer they will keep. It is considered by experts that bending the stems over when the bulbs have finished growing helps to | harden them.