Perennial onions and leeks
 

Is anyone growing any of the various types. I don't mean shallots.

I'm growing a white top setting onion. Just now starting to harvest the tops. Also some yellow potato onion, I'itoi and green mountain potato onion. Still getting the hang of it.

I grow "puerro de bulbo", a perennial leek.

I'm growing potato onions and walking onions ...... here is a great video on using walking onions

[URL]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hv2PPrJIvl0[/URL]

and a pic of my walking onions - these are from one start last year - also my Caraflex cabbage :)

[URL]http://www.tomatoville.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=59851&stc=1&d=1462295640[/URL]

Thank you for the info so far. The reason I am asking is this.

4 or so years ago when my husband was still able to help me a bit I had a large community garden. I had been collecting perennial veggies of all sorts to make a perennial garden area and among them I had struggled and found several varieties of onions and leeks, it was still in it's infancy when my husband started to go downhill fast and I had to give up my community garden. I now have raised beds , pots and a greenhouse and able to start rebuilding my dream of a perennial veggie spot, the trouble is all my notes etc on where I found stuff and what varieties I had was all on my computer which died a few weeks ago and I am back to square one. I am hoping that by reading other folks info it will prompt me to remember .

I know I had Egyptian walking onions, I had I think 3 types of potato onions, I seem to remember a white, a yellow and a red.I had perennial leeks, ramsons, a few perennial brassicas which I still have , I had what was like a green onion but it went on forever.

It took me ages to research, find, wait for the right time, buy or swap,sow or plant and wait for things to grow and I have to start all over again.

I would appreciate any info you could give me.

Thank you

XX Jeannine

Oops we just crossed

Also walking onions, potato onions and bunching onions

I just did a search and found the original Perennial Garden topic I started some years ago and thankfully I mentioned quite a few things in it so that will help. I have bumped it up if anyone with onions wants to join in it.

Ilex, could you explain a bit more about your bunching onions, I have seen them slender like green salad onions but I have also seen them with fair sized bulbs on and am not sure if there are varieties.

Also how did you start with them

i have catawissa walking onions. top sets form during the summer, stalks bend over, and they walk to the next row of the garden if you let them. they multiply two ways, by top set, and they divide if you leave them in the ground. they form a small bulb bigger than a green onion, but not by much. i always have top sets in the fall. no soil attached, so canada should let them in if you want some in the fall, and don't find them on your side of the border.


keith

Keith, that is very kind of you, I will try this side if I can but if I get stuck I may get back to you. I bought them in Canada when I was setting up the perennial patch before but they were very poor quality, I think I bought them at the wrong time of the year though so most didn't make it, but I got a couple. I believe they were red. I also got a white one, I forget the name something like Fleismans but they were even worse. There are so many places advertising in the US for all kinds of stuff I would like, I can usually get seeds but not tubers or bulbs. I do have a post office box across the border but I haven't used it for years as I no longer holiday over there but it is an idea for the fall. I think if I crossed the border with them it would be OK no different to grocery onions I guess but no one in the US will ship them here, at least I have not found anyone yet.

Thank you again,

[QUOTE=Jeannine Anne;557080]... all my notes etc on where I found stuff and what varieties I had was all on my computer which died a few weeks ago and I am back to square one. ...[/QUOTE]

Jeannine,
It may be possible to retrieve your data, if you still have the computer and if there's info on it that's worth the trouble. Several years ago my computer died, and I didn't have time to deal with retrieval, but I donated my computers via freecycle and the person who wanted them was kind enough to extract the hard drive from that one as well as an even older one. Four years later, I mentioned it to a friend who knew just what to do (and it was both easy and cheap). I got most of my files, though a few are unreadable because the software was so old.

Yes.I have heard about that, actually I have the last two laptops for that reason, I should maybe take them into a shop and get it done. The laptop I am using now is about as much use as a chocolate fire guard, I have had it a month and it is useless so I really need to address the whole issue. As I am typing on this one I look up and there are no words there or there are missing letters, and I press the mouse to roll the page up and I wait and wait and wait. I would return to to Amazon but I am a bit nervous as I have used it for banking etc that someone may be able to retrieve info from it. I am probably wrong but it worries me. John always looked after those things for me so I never really needed to learn them. I think I will go in Costco and but another one before I start adding stuff to this one.

Thank you for the reminder, it has prompted me to get my act in gear.

XX Jeannine

Bunching onions are started from seed, but they are perennial. Once stablished, you divide and replant. Kitazawa has many varieties.

Jeannine Anne,

I sent you Egyptian Walking Onions in 2011. If you're looking for them again, I'll likely be posting another offer in August.

I've just completed moving, dividing, and transplanting all of my alliums this spring. It's somewhere over 1,000 plants and probably 25+ different types of alliums.:?: I'm not sure if I will be able to identify each type and variety, but at least the EWO are about the easiest to find.

Gary

That's right you did, what a shame I moved and lost them. I would love some more, but I must pay for them and the shipping, the others sound very tempting too if you have spares TO SELL..I would love some Babbington leeks ...OOOOh getting edited now. The

Ilex ciukd you give a specific name to look for please.re are many in SSE catalogue but most folks won't ship to Canada. I got another batch of oversees seeds today but still waiting for some.

[QUOTE=Jeannine Anne;557130]Keith, that is very kind of you, I will try this side if I can but if I get stuck I may get back to you. I bought them in Canada when I was setting up the perennial patch before but they were very poor quality, I think I bought them at the wrong time of the year though so most didn't make it, but I got a couple. I believe they were red. I also got a white one, I forget the name something like Fleismans but they were even worse. There are so many places advertising in the US for all kinds of stuff I would like, I can usually get seeds but not tubers or bulbs. I do have a post office box across the border but I haven't used it for years as I no longer holiday over there but it is an idea for the fall. I think if I crossed the border with them it would be OK no different to grocery onions I guess but no one in the US will ship them here, at least I have not found anyone yet.

Thank you again,[/QUOTE]



Was the Fleismans perhaps Fleener's? If so I have been looking for those for a few years now. There were two listing in the SSE yearbook but they are not correct to type. I fairly certain that the SSE ones are McCullar's. Hope this might help.

Also I do have McCullar's White (the SSE Fleener's) growing right now if you would like some. The are a walking onion that gets perhaps 1" wide. I don't mind shipping to Canada.

That would be great and you are right about the name. Are they all right to pull at this time though I was expecting to buy them in the fall.

They are making topsets now so they will be ready late June to early July at the latest.


-Zach

I've been so intrigued by potato onions. And you can't talk about potato onions without mentioning kelly winterton.
[URL]https://turkeysong.wordpress.com/2012/08/23/mr-wintertons-remarkable-potato-onion/[/URL]
[URL]https://sites.google.com/site/kellysgarden/potato-onions[/URL]
There are a scant few sources of his green mountain onions but all appear to be sold out.

Tormato, how long can Egyptian Walking Onions' bulbils last for? If they last for a while, I think I have some that I harvested at the end of fall. I could send those to you Jeannine Anne.

Thank you Zach

I am interested in maybe trying Walking Onions.All I see on Ebay are plants that have been dug and offered for sale.Many places only offer in the fall too.Can Walking Onions be propagated by planting bulblets,or do you have to plant a living plant?

Seeds of Diversity lists places to buy onions in Canada.

[url]http://www.seeds.ca/diversity/seed-catalogue-index?psp=219[/url]

One example: Multiplier Onion (Potato Onion)
A'bunadh Seeds, Dominion Seed House (W.H.Perron), T & T Seeds Ltd., William Dam Seeds

[QUOTE=Jeannine Anne;557130] I do have a post office box across the border [/QUOTE]

Point Roberts? So you just have to walk across the street to be in the States, instead
of waiting in a line of cars for an hour or more at the Peace Arch.

Do you have Eric Toensmeier's Perennial Vegetables?

[QUOTE=Tropicalgrower;557918]I am interested in maybe trying Walking Onions.All I see on Ebay are plants that have been dug and offered for sale.Many places only offer in the fall too.Can Walking Onions be propagated by planting bulblets,or do you have to plant a living plant?[/QUOTE]



Bulbils are living plants. Bulbils and the easiest way to propagate them but it is restricted to a certain time of the year. Most plants only die down in the winter if they do at all. So live plants can be available year round.

Luigiwu, I am sorry I missed your earlier message, I am not sure how. At this point it would be great to get any type as I lost all of mine, I will PM you and we can figure out how to do it...thank you so much.

XX Jeannine

LDiane.. re the border. I am right near the new bridge in Maple Ridge which takes me quite near the border.

No I don't have Erics Ts book, I have seen it and found many of the varieties were not suitable for our weather

I have William Dams Catalogue, it comes every year but the multipliers I believe are shallots which I don't want as I only like the French ones.

There seems to be a big confusion between shallots and potato onions so it is difficult to find someone who names them right.

XX Jeannine

[QUOTE=Kazedwards;557951]Bulbils are living plants. Bulbils and the easiest way to propagate them but it is restricted to a certain time of the year. Most plants only die down in the winter if they do at all. So live plants can be available year round.[/QUOTE]

Sorry if I was misleading.When I said live plants,I meant dug up plants with roots.(which is what I am seeing on Ebay).

I simply had not seen any bulbils offered for sale on the Bay,and wondered why that was.I realize most would have been planted log ago,but you never know what might show up on that site.

My apologies Jeannine Anne.I didn't mean to take your thread off-course.

Kelly's onions are way superior to anything else. He's got true seeds so you can develop your own. Those originally from seed are more inclined to flower. You can farther tweet them, or cross them with your favorite regular onion.

In fact, many normal onions are perennial. We just don't wait that long nor select for the trait. The biggest difference is in how much they divide after flowering, or even before as those that divide are usually culled.

Kelly's lines and seeds are all open pollinated hybrids and and contain a great deal of genetic diversity. Grown out, you get a mix of forms and bulb colors from which you can select individual bulbs to multiply. That was the basis for his Green Mountain selection (which is a very nice one). So if you want to grow Green Mountain, you must get bulbs of that variety. Seeds from Green Mountain unlock that diversity once again. Kelly describes all that on his website (accessible at the links given earlier in thread).