How to Store Onions for use All Winter

I'm sharing tips on how to store garden onions through the winter. A lot of it has to do with how you store them, but also a key component, is which variety of onions you grow, look for storage onion varieties!

I begin planting onion seeds indoors in January because they have a long growing time. There are many benefits to starting onion from seed instead of sets. The main benefit is trying many new varieties of onions that are not available in sets.

Onion sets, are actually last year's onions grown from seed. A lot of them will bolt and go to seed, instead of forming nice big onion bulbs.

Choosing a storage onion variety, is the most important piece of the puzzle, if you want to keep your family in home grown onions through the winter. Sweet onions are best eaten fresh, the high sugar content does not allow them to be stored for long.

Be sure you properly harvest and cure your onions before storing them long term.

The best way to store your homegrown onions for long term, is hanging in mesh bags, or in pantyhose, in a cool, dark, dry place.

If you use something like a laundry basket where they are piled up, be sure to go through the basket regularly, to remove any that might be going off or sprouting.

Some of my favorite storage onion varieties are Rossa di Milano (shown above), Talon, Copra, Cortland, Patterson and Red Bull.

Be sure not to store your onions and potatoes together for long term storage. Onions off gas ethylene, which helps ripen potatoes and will cause them to go bad quickly.

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