How to Harvest Green Onions
Here you’ll learn how to harvest green onions! Onions are great additions to your salads, they add depth to any dish, brighten up your chicken, add a little crunch to your savory quinoa and so much more. First up let’s clear up the difference between the green onion and scallion. Whichever you choose, how to harvest your green onions is a simple easy task YOU can learn to do below!
You can’t beat a fresh garden onion. But is it a green onion, or scallion? Let’s figure it out below, that’s the first step in “harvesting green onions” is to figure out which one we are using.
Do I use Green Onions, or Scallions? What’s the Difference??
Green onions and scallions. Let’s clear the differences up first. Quick science class, scallions are milder in taste and are from the genes and species Allium fistulosum, this is a genus that doesn’t produce a bulb.
; is apart of the Allium cepa, genus and species. Greens onions tend to be stronger in flavor than scallions. They can both be used interchangeably in recipes like; eggs, casseroles, salad topping, as a final topping in soups, chicken, beef, fish and many others.
The green onion:
You may see green onion “sets”, as their called, sold in stores in the early spring. Green onions are a cold weather crop. They can be planted as a plant in the soil in early spring, then harvested a 4-8 weeks later. Or plant them in late fall to yield a harvest early spring the following year. You can buy them here.
Scallion:
Scallion plants are similar to green onions. The main difference is their flavor. Scallions are much milder than green onion. Scallion will be sold in garden centers and hardware stores in the garden center. Lastly, scallions will never produce a large onion “bulb”. Get your scallion seeds here to plant in your garden. They are grown and harvested the same as green onions.
#1. How to harvest green onions.
Using the whole plant.
There are two ways to harvest green onions. Number one is to pull the entire plant out of the soil, bulb and all. Nothing will be left in soil. This method ensures you will NOT get a continuous crop of green onion. Once you pull out all the bulbs, the onions are gone.
Using just the tops.
How to harvest green onions, the second method will yield a continuous crop of green onions throughout the year. Using kitchen shears or scissors take off the top of the green onion leaving behind about 3-4” of the onion left out of the ground. After harvesting green onions this way you’ll be sure to enjoy the “onion tops” all throughout the season.
Note; if you leave the onion bulbs in the soil and continuous harvest just the tops, the green tops may become a little firmer, and tough as the year goes on.
#2 How to harvest scallions.
The same method applies to scallions. Enjoy the green tops, by clipping them throughout the year, or harvest the entire plant bulb and all anytime throughout the growing season.
What Happens to the Bulbs, If You Leave Them in the Ground?
If you use “how to harvest green onions” method two from above, you’ll be left with the bulbs in the ground at the end of the season. There are two options you can choose.
Leave the onions in the ground.
You may leave them in the ground for next year. They’ll lay dormant this winter and emerge with new green onion sprouts next spring. However you may loose some due to the thaw and freezing during winter. This method is not ideal. Harvesting the whole onion is the BEST way to utilize your garden onions.
Harvest the whole onion.
You may harvest the onion bulbs in the fall, chop and use as you would a regular onion. The tops may be tougher than the beginning on the year, so you may choose not to use those. If the bulbs are kept unwashed in a cold dark, dry area they should last for several months (unpeeled from their tough outer layer). You may use the onions at your convenience. Other methods of using and storing fresh onion bulbs are chipping and freezing them in Ziplock storage freezer bags. Either method works well.
Why grow your own green onions?
Growing your own onions takes you one step closer to living that “homesteading” lifestyle. In addition, anything is better if you make or grow it yourself. Onions are a wonderful addition to meals throughout the seasons. Soups, stews, salad, meat additions and so much more. Green onions (or scallions) are also very nutritious, here’s a fun fact about onions:
“Thanks to its edible green leaves, one large raw scallion provides 52 micrograms, or 43 percent of the recommended daily intake, of vitamin K. That’s compared to only 0.2 microgram in one-third of a raw shallot. Vitamin K is essential for blood to clot properly, and also helps maintain the density and strength of your bones.” –SFGate Hearst Newspaper 2021
Doesn’t that make you want to grow and harvest your own onions this year? Well,you learned how to harvest green onions, or did you choose scallions? Let me know below how YOU like using your green onions! I’m sure you’ll benefit from your own homegrown onions all season long!
If this article was helpful to you, please let me know below! Also, consider checking out another one of our articles on homemade chia seed pudding.
