In today’s video blog we show you how to get a massive harvest of onions. This vertical growing method will let you grow 42 onions in a very small space using the GreenStalk vertical gardening system. We grew 25lbs of onions in a two-square-foot space and wanted to share our experience with people who have a smaller growing space.
We are using these 10 by 20 trays to start our onion sets. The best time to start onions is February through April, which will yield a harvest in summer/or late summer. We are using a base tray to hold the excess water. We fill in the top tray with some good quality potting mix which has a lot of organic matter. This will help nourish the onion sets as they are growing and developing the roots. Choose the best sets that will germinate, and discard the squishy ones. While planting you need to be careful that you do not bury them too deep. A two-inch spacing between the sets is ideal and will give them enough space to grow. Once you finish planting, water your sets thoroughly.
You need to make sure that the soil is always moist when the seedlings are emerging. Around twelve days later you will see that the seedlings have emerged. Once the seedlings have emerged you can plant them in the planter, we will be using the seven-tiered GreenStalk leaf planter to plant these onion sets. We were growing beets in this planter last season and now we have replenished the soil in the tiers by adding in some worm castings and some bone meal. Adding bone meal to your potting mix will result in a yield containing good-sized onions.
The GreenStalk leaf planter has seven tiers and six growing slots in each tier, so that gives us 42 slots to plant our onions, one onion seedling, or one onion plant per pocket. While planting the onions make sure that you don’t plant them too deeply, if you plant your bulbs too deep, they will produce a lot of shoots or greens but not large bulbs. Plant the sets above the soil, ensure the roots are still in contact with the soil and are not exposed to get large-sized bulbs. Once you finish planting, water your seedlings very well. We prefer to water the seedlings while the planter is not stacked up, it’s easier to water the tiers first, add the watering discs, and start stacking them one over the other until all are stacked.
Around 15 days since planting you can see that the plants are growing steadily, the tops look bigger. Keep your plants well-watered and after 120 days you can see that the onions are ready for harvest. Once the onion tops start falling off or bend, it is an indicator that the onions are ready to harvest. ‘
They will continue to grow larger once the tops bend over as well. We harvested a few and waited for a month to harvest the rest of the onions. GreenStalk leaf planter pockets are an ideal size to grow root vegetables like onions, beets, kohlrabi, etc. We saved an entire raised bed space for planting other crops while we grew the onions in this wonderful planter. Greenstalk planter’s smart watering system ensures the plants get watered evenly without the lingering doubt in the back of your mind whether you watered enough.
Once you harvest your onions you can leave them out in your pantry for a few days to cure. It takes about a week or two for the onions to cure. Curing helps them store better and stay fresh longer. We did a final weigh-in after we completed harvesting all the onions from the GreenStalk planter and we got about 25 lbs. from a 2sqft space in our garden which felt extremely rewarding.
If you wish to buy your own GreenStalk leaf planter, click on the link below and use coupon code cag for getting $10 off your order.
GreenStalk Garden Planter: https://store.greenstalkgarden.com/vertical-garden/
Coupon code cag for $10 off.
Watch the video at Growing 42 Onions in 2 sq. ft. space – Over 25 lbs Onions Harvested!
Thank you so much for your super useful videos. I really like your videos, keep them coming!