Florence Grovida Gardening

Alliums Onions shallots garlic and leeks

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Onions, garlic, shallots, and leeks belong to a group of pungent plants called alliums. These plants generally form bulbs or enlarged below-ground stems. Many members of the allium family make lovely additions to the flower garden.

✓ Planting: Alliums like well-drained, fertile, loose soil and appreciate raised beds. They grow well in cool weather and can take a light frost. Sow onion and leek seeds indoors 8 to 10 weeks before transplanting the plants into the garden. Keep the tops trimmed to about 3 inches high until transplant time.

In moderate climates, sow seeds in fall for a spring harvest. Plant shallot and onion sets in the spring for a late-summer harvest. Cloves of garlic are best planted in fall, even in cold climates, to overwinter and mature the following summer.

• Care: Keep your alliums weed free, well watered, and fertilized with a high-phosphorous fertilizer (such as bonemeal) to promote large bulb growth.
• Harvesting: When the tops begin to yellow, onions usually are ready for harvest. After pulling them out of the ground, either use them fresh or allow them to cure in a warm, airy room for a few weeks before storing in a cold basement. Use sweet onion varieties within a few weeks.

Shallots, pungent onions, and some garlic varieties, however, can last for months in storage.

Pull leeks as needed in fall, after cool weather sweetens their taste. Many varieties can withstand 20-degree Fahrenheit temperatures. When temperatures drop below that, mulch leeks with a blanket of straw, pulling it aside to harvest into winter.

✓ Pests and diseases: Onion maggots probably are the worst pests of allium-family crops, feeding on onion roots and bulbs. Mulching, crop rotation, and row covers help reduce the risks from these pests.