Walla Walla Onions - a Giant Harvest

August 31, 2013

I have been growing shallots since I was a little girl. I remember begging my grandmother for little shallots for planting. I just love watching the shallot multiply. What was one would become four or six. While at Armstrong Nursery a couple of months ago, I saw a pack of what I would describe as extremely fine scallions or green onions, almost grasslike. The little black onion seed was still seen at the base of shoots. This is my first experience growing onions, Walla Walla sweet onions to be exact. It has been an equally satisfying experience. What the Walla Walla onion lack in multiplication in quantity it was more than impressive it multiplied in size!.

The onion bed with onions of various sizes, ready for harvesting.

The Walla Walla onion bulb is swollen to the size of a small melon. I just let the onion get bigger and bigger in size. You can see how big they are compared to the size of my hand! I only do surface weeding so as not to disturb the growing bulb.

 As you can see the onions grew at different rates so I have a selection of sizes. Some of the onions have split up in to cloves as you can see with the onion on the far right. I am replanting those "cloves" of onions.

While Frasier does not understanding my excitement harvesting these onion he understands he has to guard my Walla Walla onion harvest.

Onion flower with black onion seeds. These seed heads have spread the seeds into other beds. I often find little grasslike seedlings in other beds. For now, I just pull them out and treat them as weeds. Towards the end of summer, I will probably "weed" the seedlings and transplant them to a location I set aside for the onions.

Here's a video of my harvesting adventure.