Transplanting Onion Seedlings

- Hello!

My name is Qwantese and welcome to the Let's Grow Stuff garden!

Also, welcome to spring, or for my fellow gardeners out there, onion transplanting season.

If you've never started your onions from seed before, this process can be a little confusing, but that's why I'm here.

On today's episode, I'm gonna show you how to turn this little guy into a much bigger guy in just a few months.

You ready?

Let's grow stuff!

[upbeat electronic music] These are my onion starts.

Pretty snazzy, huh?

Let's talk about how we got here, shall we?

First, I started these way back in February.

Generally, around Valentine's Day is a good bet.

When choosing which onions to grow, it's important that here in Wisconsin, you're choosing varieties of long day onions.

And in case you're interested, I went with a few types that are good for storage too.

You can find most of this information out from the seed packets.

Our onions can be planted into the ground much sooner than many of our other garden veggies.

The soil temperature typically needs to be around 50 degrees.

But I don't really check the temperature.

I just pay attention to the weather.

But if you're looking for more help with this, check out this URL.

Once the temperatures are around 50 degrees, it's time to go.

Now, I recommend adding some compost to your soil, but you can use whatever fertilizer you prefer.

Just make sure that you add it to the soil a few weeks before you transplant, and this is gonna help to improve your soil fertility.

You will also want to make sure you harden off your seedlings before planting as well.

This will help them adjust to the new environment and avoid shock.

There are a couple ways to transplant your onions, but the method that I prefer is the trench method.

You scoop out a trench that is about one to two inches deep.

Then, gently pop out a cell of seedlings.

Now, these plants are really delicate, so handling the plants down by the roots is probably best.

All you have to do is gently separate the soil until you are pulling apart the seeds.

Once the starts are separated, place them one by one with the roots touching the bottom of the trench.

The closer the onions are, the less room they will have to grow.

Trust me, I've learned this lesson personally.

Three to four inches apart should do the trick.

Once they are all placed, push the soil surrounding the starters back into the trench.

You don't have to pack the dirt too tightly here.

The goal is just to make sure that the roots are completely covered.

Give them a good watering to help them settle in, and then you've done it!

Also, it benefits onions to be fertilized regularly.

Think as often as you'd get a pedicure, so, like, two to three weeks.

Well, there you have it.

As long as you follow these steps, you're gonna have delicious onions in no time.

And by "no time," I mean three to four months.

If you wanna stay tuned until then, check out one of Ben and I's episodes at letsgrowstuff.org.

Bye!

- Announcer: Funding for Let's Grow Stuff is provided by the Focus Fund for Wisconsin Programs and Friends of PBS Wisconsin.