Patio gardening - onions?

[dave_the_nerd]

I've done tomatoes and herbs in a patio garden before, but am branching out a bit this year.

Planting a pot (~18" diameter, >12" deep soil) full of onions (target of opportunity - had a couple sprout in the pantry and split them apart, so I have a good dozen or so plants sitting in improvised containers indoors.)

Gardening handbooks say to plant them in rows 6" apart, but realistically, how many can I really get in here? (Assuming compost-ey soil, a bit of plant food, and regular watering.)

I don't really mind if they're a little undersized, either - based on what I cook, I'll probably get more use out of the greens than from the onions themselves.

Thoughts? TIA.

 

[Carson Dyle]

At 99 cents a pound ... just ... why??

If you love good sweet onions, chances of re-creating a Vidalia or Walla Walla are pretty slim. If you want to grow scallions, may make some sense, but again, they're dirt cheap at any grocer. I don't imagine you need to grow scallions at anything like 6" apart.

 

[bigi]

Planted lots of white and yellow onions yesterday. I'd go with longish rectangular pots and just plant them in row(s)

 

[dave_the_nerd]

At 99 cents a pound ... just ... why??

If you love good sweet onions, chances of re-creating a Vidalia or Walla Walla are pretty slim. If you want to grow scallions, may make some sense, but again, they're dirt cheap at any grocer. I don't imagine you need to grow scallions at anything like 6" apart.

Gardening definitely isn't about cost-effectiveness.

 

[NetWareHead]

What is your goal here? To get the underground bulb portion of the onion or to just harvest onion greens?

If is greens, then just plant the sprouted onions and trim occasionally when you need.

 

[DrPizza]

You can probably plant them in a roughly 3/4" grid pattern. Take a look at how chives grow - you're simply after the greens, not the little bulbs. Yum.