Sunday 6 April 2008

on and on and onion


Nestling in a corner of my grandfather's garden was a row of 'everlasting spring onions'.
This was at a time when supermarkets did not jet produce from the four corners of the earth and when produce eaten was seasonal.

So, in the dark days of winter it was handy to be able to go outside and chop of a clump of spring onions that were hardy enough to last through the coldest winter.

I haven't been able to find the correct name for this family heirloom, and so it remains as I always knew it.

Hot and tangy, the individual spring onions are slender and work especially well in stir-fries.

They are similar in habit to the smaller chives, but never seem to flower but are propagated by splitting each spring and moving to a new spot.

They benefit from water and some organic matter.

3 comments:

Petunia's Gardener said...

Rob,
I hope this is what my "Evergreen White Bunching" onions turn out to be. I saw the seed packet and thought they'd be handy year round in the garden. I have a couple sprouts now.

To use them, do you chop them from just above the roots and into the greens? Or do you just use the greens? Nice, blog too. - Paula

Rob said...

Paula
As you say, chop from above the roots and use the green leaves as well. let me know how you get on.

Like your blog too - I'm a hat wearing gardener myself! Today was a traditional English flat cap to keep April rain off.

Cheers

Rob

Lisa said...

I'm growing something that I planted last fall that was labeled 'Welsh onion', Allium fistulosum. I'd never seen it before, but it apparently comes in white and red varieties, and is a perennial bunching onion, which you harvest by pulling up individual shoots, which look like what we call green onions.

I just cooked some up this evening, and was planning to write a post about them -- mine are about to be in flower.

Cheers,
Lisa