THE ONION BED

Wairarapa Times-Age, 28 August 1940, Page 9

THE ONION BED

REQUIRES CAREFUL ATTENTION. Onions differ from most other vegetables in that they can be grown year after year in the same place, provided it is liberally manured with stable manure in the autumn, trenched at least two feet deep, and the surface left rough during the winter. Now the ground can get a good dressing of soot lime, and wood ashes, and then be forked over to a depth of six inches, mixing in the soot, etc, during the operation. Rake to remove stones or rubbish and to break up all lumps, leaving the surface level and fine. The beds should be from four to six feet in width so that it is possible to do all the weeding and cultivation from the paths between. The seed can be sown either broadcast or in drills, but drills are the best, for it is then possible to hoe and cultivate between them during the growing season. With the corner of the draw hoe make drills an'inch deep and 10 inches apart, and sow the seed thinly and evenly in these, filling in the drills with the soil taken out if it is fine, and in good working condition, but with special sifted soil if it is sticky or lumpy. Make firm with the head of the rake and level. The seedlings should receive a preliminary thinning as soon as large enough to handle, to about an inch apart, but further thinning can be done to provide spring onions for salads.

Autumn-sown onions can be transplanted into beds prepared as described for seed sowing, the roots and the leaves being trimmed a little, the plants being put out at six to nine inches apart in rows 10 inches apart, the base of the bulb being kept just under the soil surface and made firm. While preparing the onion bed, if the soil is light and dry it should be firmed by tramping before the raking is done, and if heavy it can be left to settle down for a fortnight after forking, be- 1 fore sowing. Potato Onion or Underground Onion, produces a number of underground bulbs of irregular shape, instead of a single round bulb. It produces neither seeds or bulblets, and is propagated by means of cloves like shallots. Strong cloves, if planted now, will produce onions by mid-summer, but if the bulbs are left to mature seven or eight of various sizes will be obtained. The flesh of the potato onion is very agreeable to taste and of good quality. They are planted in rows a foot apart, and the same distance is allowed between the plants in the rows. They are earthed up when growth is advanced, like potatoes. The tree onion, instead of producing seeds on the stalk, produces small bulbs of a brownish-red colour, from which the plant is propagated. When planted in spring, these small bulbs form large ones by the end of the year, but do not produce any bulblets until the following year. The flesh of the tree onion is agreeable, but rather deficient in flavour. Onions are also grown from sets, which are small bulbs arrested in their growth.