Vegetable Gardening (34 page)

In general, short-day onions grow well in the southern United States, long-day onions grow well in the northern United States, and intermediate-day onions grow well in the in-between regions.

See the later sidebar "What a difference a day makes!" if you really want to get into a discussion on day length and onions. If you want to avoid the whole issue, try growing some fun onion relatives, such as leeks, garlic, and shallots, which I discuss in Chapter 11.

Choosing your onion varieties

In the following lists of my favorite onion varieties, I distinguish between onions that are long day, short day, and intermediate day (or day neutral). Within each group are sweet and pungent varieties. These varieties are the most
widely adapted
(able to grow in a wide variety of geographic regions under various weather conditions) and easiest to grow. Keep in mind that pungent onions are much better for storage than sweet varieties. (You can read more about storage in Chapter 19.)

I also indicate whether you can purchase the variety as a
set
(small onions that have been pregrown so that they mature faster) or as a plant (or both). (Check out the appendix for a listing of companies that specialize in onion sets and plants.) The days to maturity are from either directly seeding in the garden or
setting out
(placing outdoors) sets or plants. Short-day onions are generally planted in fall to grow through the winter, so they take longer to mature than other types. Long- and intermediate-day onions are usually planted in spring. All the onions have yellow skin and white flesh unless otherwise noted.

Short-day onions include the following varieties:

‘Giant Red Hamburger':
This open-pollinated, sweet, short-day variety features dark red skin and red-and-white flesh. It matures in 95 days from seeding and can be purchased as a plant.

‘Granex 33' (Vidalia):
This classic hybrid sweet onion is a well-known short-day variety. It is available as a plant and is popular in the Southeast. It matures in spring, 180 days after fall seeding.

‘Texas Grano 1015' (Texas Supersweet):
This sweet, short-day, hybrid variety can grow as large as a baseball and still remain sweet. It's also available as a plant and is popular in Texas and in the Southwest. It matures 175 days from fall seeding.

Intermediate-day (or day-neutral) onion varieties include the following:

‘Candy':
This sweet, hybrid, intermediate-day onion is widely adapted. It's also available as a plant. It matures 85 days after seeding.

‘Italian Red Torpedo':
This sweet, Italian heirloom, intermediate-day, red onion forms a bottle-shaped bulb with a mild taste and pink flesh. It matures 110 days after seeding.

‘Superstar':
This All-America Selections winning, hybrid, white-skinned, sweet onion produces a 1-pound, disease-resistant, uniform, mild-tasting bulb 109 days from planting. It's isn't good for long-term storage because of its extra sweetness.

Long-day onion varieties include the following:

‘Ailsa Craig Exhibition':
This yellow-skinned, open-pollinated variety is known for its sweet, 2-pound bulbs that mature 105 days after seeding. It tolerates cool weather well.

‘Borrettana cipollini':
Cipollini are unique heirloom, Italian, flat-shaped varieties. The ‘Borrettana' variety produces 2-inch-diameter yellow sweet onions that are great braided and good caramelized and sautéed. It matures 110 days after seeding. ‘Red Marble' is a good red cipollini-type variety.

‘Copra':
You can store this hybrid, pungent variety until spring. It matures 104 days after seeding.

‘Purplette':
This open-pollinated, purple-skinned mini-onion is best harvested when 3 to 4 inches in diameter 60 days after seeding. It has mild, sweet pink flesh and is a good one for pickling. It also can be used as a scallion (see the next section).