Growing Together: A Gardening Podcast · Forum Communications Co.

Grow your best onions this season

·44 min·2 clips

Research showed onion sets over a half inch across can produce less onion, not more.

1. Growing Together: A Gardening Podcast focuses on onions, with John Lamb and Don Kinsler opening by talking about seed orders, spring timing, and onion plants arriving in the mail. 2. John Lamb hosts the conversation, and Don Kinsler is described as a lifelong gardener and the North Dakota State University Extension horticulturist for Cass County. 3. The episode asks how to grow big onions in a northern garden, and Don frames the answer as a sequence of variety choice, planting method, spacing, and storage. 4. Don says U.S. people eat about 20 pounds of onions a year, and he connects that number to everyday cooking like fried potatoes and hot dish. 5. He explains that North Dakota gardeners need long-day onions because June and early July have long daylight hours. 6. Don recommends looking for seed-catalog descriptions that say an onion “stores well,” because he says catalogs will advertise that strength if a variety has it. 7. He names Patterson, Dakota Tears from Prairie Road Organic Seeds, Sweet Spanish, and Walla Walla as varieties he likes for storage or performance. 8. He says Ailsa Craig can reach two to six pounds, making it his example of a cultivar for very large bulbs. 9. Don compares three ways to start onions: direct seeding, dry onion sets, and onion plants. 10. He says direct-seeded onions usually stay small and behave more like green onions, while dry sets can work but larger sets over about a half inch may produce less. 11. Don says a West Fargo gardener showed him that starting from onion plants grown from February seed under lights produces bigger bulbs. 12. He describes that gardener’s routine of starting seed in trays, separating the seedlings in late April or early May, and planting them into rows. 13. Don says onion plants are sold by garden centers and mail-order companies, often as clumps held together with a rubber band. 14. He explains that onion seedlings should be cut back to about two or three inches when they reach roughly five inches tall. 15. Don says onions can be planted out in April because they tolerate cool weather and even some frost. 16. He adds that onions need full sun, lighter soil with organic matter if the ground is heavy clay, and spacing matched to bulb size so large onions are not crowded flat-sided. 17. Don says weed control matters because onions have shallow roots, and he mentions purslane as a weed he carries in a bucket because it can root again if left on the ground. 18. He links leaf production to bulb size by saying more leaves create more layers, which leads to a bigger onion, and he also recommends regular watering and fertilizer such as 10-10-10 or ammonium sulfate. 19. The tone is practical and conversational, with John asking planting questions and Don answering in a teaching style that includes personal memory and specific garden examples. 20. Listeners who grow vegetables in northern climates will get the most from it, while people wanting fast ornamental-garden content may skip it.

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