Planting onions in spring

Onions are a versatile plant used in many dishes. Therefore, almost all gardeners plant it on their site. Planting work is most often carried out in early spring.

The quality of the future harvest depends on the time of planting the onion on the turnip. Planting onions starts early enough. Usually, gardeners wait until the temperature rises to 13-14 degrees, and immediately get to work.

A more specific time for planting plants depends on the characteristics of the local climate. So, in the southern regions, they begin to sow onions in mid-April, in the Leningrad region and the Moscow region – at the end of the month. In colder regions, onions are planted as early as May.

To determine the date more accurately, gardeners also focus on the lunar calendar. Onions, like other plants or seedlings, are not recommended to be planted on a full moon or a new moon. It is best to do this on a growing moon.

Before planting onions, it is necessary to prepare both the planting material and the bed.

It is recommended to choose a site for planting onions in open ground in the fall. When choosing it, you need to pay attention to the following points.

• Illumination. Onions grow very poorly in the shade. Therefore, it must be planted in sunny areas. Otherwise, the heads will be very small, and the greens will not be as juicy and tasty.

• soil. Onions love loose and nutritious soil. It grows best in beds with black soil. Soil acidity should be low. If necessary, add dolomite flour to the soil. They do it in the fall.

• Predecessors. Onions grown on a turnip or on a feather are recommended to be planted in a plot where rye or legumes have grown before. The soil on such beds is loose and filled with nutrients. Plants such as zucchini, eggplant and potatoes can also be good predecessors for onions. Do not plant onions after garlic, carrots and cucumbers. This will cause the bulbs to be small due to lack of nutrients in the soil.

• Neighbors. When planning an onion planting scheme, it is important to consider which plants will be planted nearby. The best neighbor for this plant will be carrots. This plant repels the onion fly. You can also plant potatoes, cabbage, beets and peppers nearby. Onions grown on a feather coexist well next to such greens as spinach, dill and parsley. Radishes and legumes will become bad neighbors for this crop. They need the same substances to grow. Therefore, onions near such neighbors develop very poorly.

Having chosen a place for planting onions, the beds need to be properly prepared. In autumn, the site is dug up. This helps to get rid of pests. In addition, due to the digging of the site, the moisture in the soil after the snow melts lasts longer.

After digging, the soil must be fertilized. Usually gardeners use compost or manure. But they can be completely replaced with mineral fertilizers. In the spring, the site must be dug up again. Next, the ground is carefully leveled with a rake. After that, the soil is shed with a solution of potassium permanganate or any other disinfectant.

Seeds and sets are prepared for planting in various ways. Each of them has its own characteristics.

Seed treatment is recommended 3-4 weeks before sowing. To begin with, the seeds must be checked for germination by lowering them briefly into a container with saline. Floated specimens should be discarded, and the remaining seeds should be washed under running water. To speed up the process of seed germination, they should be wrapped in a damp cloth and left in this form for a day. Next, the nigella must be hardened. To do this, the seeds in a glass of water are placed in the refrigerator for several days. The water in the glass should be changed daily. After that, the seeds must be well dried and mixed with sawdust or sand.

The seed preparation process consists of the following steps.

1. Calibration. First of all, the onion must be sorted out. The sevok should be dense and large enough. Wet bulbs or specimens with traces of decay should not be used for planting. Next, you need to divide the entire set into several categories in size. Small bulbs are used for planting on the feather, large bulbs for planting on the head.
2. Drying and heating. If the sevok was stored in a cool place, a few weeks before planting it must be well dried and warmed up. Usually onions are spread in a thin layer on the windowsill. There he should lie for 2-3 days. This procedure will help prevent onion infection with diseases such as downy mildew and neck rot.
3. Hardening. Then the sevok must be hardened. To do this, it is lowered first into hot water, and then into cold. It is kept in each container for 5 minutes.
4. Treatment with growth stimulants. You can speed up the germination process of sevka by soaking it in a weak solution of nitroammophoska. Instead, you can also use complex fertilizers or stimulants such as Kornevin and Epin.
5. disinfection. For disinfection, planting material is soaked in a weak solution of potassium permanganate. After this treatment, the seeds are washed under running water and dried well. It is necessary to disinfect the onion immediately before planting it.

If you plan to plant onions on a feather, the tops of the bulbs are cut off. This must be done with sharp scissors.

The onion planting scheme also depends on which planting material was chosen.

The first step is to prepare the holes in which the onions will be planted. The distance between them should be within two centimeters. If onions are grown on a feather, the seeds are placed closer to each other. The distance between rows is usually within 15 centimeters.

After sowing, the holes are covered with fertile soil. Next, the beds are watered and mulched. If the weather on the site is not warm enough, the planting should be covered with a dark film. It will be possible to remove it after the appearance of the first shoots.

When preparing furrows for planting seedlings, it is worth considering the size of the planting material. Small onions are planted at a distance of 7-8 centimeters. The distance when planting large onions should be within 10 centimeters.

Do not place the bulbs too deep in the soil. The optimal depth is 4-5 centimeters. Grooves with onions planted in them must be covered with soil. Some gardeners use dry wood ash at this stage. Onions are sprinkled with a thin layer of ash. The product in this case serves both as a fertilizer and as a means for disinfecting sections.

There are other methods of growing this crop.

• In the boxes. You can grow onions on a feather in this way not only in the country, but also in your house or apartment. First you need to choose a box of a suitable size and fill it with soil. The soil mixture can be bought at the store or prepared independently. In the second case, it is enough to simply mix the soil with humus and peat in equal proportions. The onion sorted and processed in stimulants must be placed in the ground. The distance between the bulbs should be within 3 centimeters. Next, the planting is covered with a film. Then the box is placed on the windowsill. After the appearance of green sprouts, the film is removed.

• On the ridges. This Chinese method of growing onions produces a large yield. A place for planting plants is prepared in the fall. The soil is well fertilized. For this, both mineral and organic fertilizers can be used. In the spring, the bed is dug up again. After that, long ridges are formed on the site. The height of each of them should be within 15 centimeters. To improve the yield of onions, compost can be added to the soil. The distance between rows should be at least 30 centimeters. The bulbs are placed in the middle of the comb. From above they are carefully sprinkled with a layer of earth mixed with compost. Onions grown in this way must be watered regularly.

• in sawdust. This is another unusual way to grow onions. Sawdust before use must be doused with boiling water. This will help to disinfect them. Next, sawdust is poured onto the ground in a dense layer. They make small furrows. The distance between them should be within 20 centimeters. Furrows need to be shed with warm water. After that, you can start planting onions. The distance between the bulbs should be within 10 centimeters. The sevok planted in this way should be sprinkled with a layer of sawdust and poured with warm water. It is very easy to care for such beds. Onions need to be watered and fertilized regularly. Weeds under a layer of sawdust appear very rarely. Therefore, the gardener does not have to waste his time fighting them.

• In the compost heap. Experienced gardeners know that a variety of vegetables can be grown in a compost heap. Onions also grow very well in such conditions. A pile for planting plants must be prepared in advance. First you need to fence it off with wooden boards. Next, a small amount of nutrient soil is poured over the compost. The bow is carefully buried in the ground. Then it is also sprinkled with a small amount of earth. Bulbs grown in this way are large and have excellent keeping quality.