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								P	P

(Best months for planting Spring onions in Australia - cool/mountain regions)

P = Sow direct in garden where they are to grow.

• Easy to grow.
• Harvest in 8-12 weeks.
• Sow in garden. Sow seed at a depth approximately three times the diameter of the seed.
• Best planted at soil temperatures between 10°C and 20°C.
• Space plants: close together

Can be grown from 'sets' ie seedlings brought on earlier. Spring onions are young onions grown close together and harvested before fully mature.

Do not like to be too dry. Sheltered, sunny spot. If you are growing onions from seed, you can use the 'thinnings' as spring onions

Culinary hints - cooking and eating Spring onions

.Raw in salads.
Chopped and sprinkled on Asian stir-fry.

Your comments and tips

17 Jul 10 Morgoth (Australia - cool/mountain climate)

I saved some root ends (cut off only about 1.5 centimetres from the end) from store-bought scallions planted them (I'm calling these cut-off roots 'rootlings') and they grew really well (I think it was summer when I did this).

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15 Jun 10 Michele -- Launceston (Australia - cool/mountain climate)

HELP?? Have let some spring onions grown on .... now look like leeks on steroids with bulbs as big as a regular brown onion. Should I use them or chuck them out?? Any hints on how to use them?? I do make my own tomato relish, sauce and chutney. Can I use some of the sprin onion instead?? Just not sure what to do ... don't like wasting food

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16 Jun 10 Chris (Australia - cool/mountain climate)

Michele, I would use them. So long as the stems haven't gone hard (woody) then they should be perfectly ok. If they are woody, then they won't be very edible, but could still add flavour if you remove them from the mix after cooking.

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10 Feb 10 trevor (Australia - temperate climate)

I have trouble growing spring onions from seed. i plant them directly in the ground and also in a mini greenhouse using seed raising mix. both plantings don't seem to produce. WHY?

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30 May 10 Diana (Australia - temperate climate)

Hi! I live in Adelaide where the summer is really hot. Is your place really hot in Febuary? I sowed spring onion seed during summer and had very poor germination rate almost none. However since End summer germination rate 80-99%. Usually in the seed packet it says you could sow all year round. But I think if it is too hot the seed won't germinate.

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08 Feb 10 Adrian (Australia - cool/mountain climate)

A simple suggestion for would-be spring onion growers! Instead of all the cost, hassle and time that it takes to get a crop of spring onions from seed, I just buy myself a bunch of thin spring onions at the supermarket and plant them 3 inches apart in well mulched and limed soil. The last bunch I bought had 45 plants which I planted yesterday and will be ready to progressively use in 10 days time, when they have thickened a bit, for some 4-6 weeks. It's fool proof and guaranteed to give you an instant spring onion patch. Even though it may be cheating a little. Cost $1.99 compared to $4.95 for a packet of seed.

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15 Sep 09 Alison (Australia - temperate climate)

Spring onions in Victoria are known as shallots in NSW. Very bloody confusing. As a cook, I wouldn't worry too much about it unless in Asian cuisine when the long skinny ones with green bits (Victoria vs NSW ... again! ...hehehe) are preferred.

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21 Aug 09 klyie (Australia - temperate climate)

I have been growing spring onions for a while and have just noticed bubble like flowers om the tips of some stems. Should I be cutting these off???

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21 Aug 09 Susan (Australia - temperate climate)

Spring onions and shallots are two different things. Shallots (also known as French shallots) are like smallish onions (just a bulb) whereas spring onions don't have a big bulb and include the long green shoots (leaves). I think spring onions are called green onions in the US.

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14 Jun 09 anne reynolds (Australia - temperate climate)

when a recipe says to use spring onions, how do I know whether it means green onions, or shallots? The difference? thank you

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