For $3.49 You Can  Have Have Green Onions Every Day

I really like onions and one of my favorite quick growing tricks is to plant vegetables in tubs on the patio or deck. This gives me access to fresh produce while I’m waiting to be able to plant in the main garden. I purchased a six pack of onion starts that I will use to grow green onions. I’m going to save a bunch of money!

You can plant your onions into a plastic tub, just be sure and drill a few holes in the bottom for drainage.  A 6 inch deep planter of any size works well too. I planted the onions fairly close together because they are being grown for greens not full size onions. That six pack of onion starts is going to get me at least 100 onion plants to make cuttings for my salads and soups.

Better yet – plant the seeds yourself and have a variety of onion greens to grow and cut for salads. I’m thinking a tub mixed with red onions, Walla Walla sweets (white) and yellow onions will give me a nice flavor variety.  

All about onions has information about how to use onions in cooking,(they are not all created equal!) and the kind of taste you can expect from each.

• Yellow Onions – strong onion flavor, mild aftertaste
• White Onions – moderately pungent to very pungent and full flavored, but finishes with a cleaner and crisper flavor in comparison to yellow and red storage varieties
• Red Onions –  harp, spicy, and moderate to very pungent

These onion transplants will continue to grow as long as I cut them at least an inch above the soil and keep the roots intact.  Once the garden is ready I can thin out this tub and transfer the most robust plants to their permanent beds.

I know you’ve seen it on Pinterest – put vegetable cuttings  in water or soil and regrow. Celery, onion, carrot tops and romaine lettuce are the first ones that come to mind. Here’s a tutorial if you want to purchase some bunching onions and go that route. I figure that by growing my own green onions I will save about $60 per year – maybe more because I don’t purchase them in the winter when they are really expensive.

What else can you grow in a 6″ pot? You would be surprised!

What can you grow in a 12 inch pot? – What can you grow in an 8 inch pot? – What can you grow in a 4 inch pot?

Plant a bunch of onion sets this week and save some money while you grow green onions on your patio. Frugal gardening at its best!