My dad found some walking onions at a garden centre. They were in a sorry state, apparently, being the leftovers from a more vibrant stock, but he’s always been fascinated with them since he was a child when there were some in his family’s garden.
So, he bought the two plants – a challenge is a challenge after all – one plant for him and one plant for me. Or should I say I have some sproutings from the original plant and some bulb heads to be dropped on top of compost in a pot.
I need to think about where to put them in the garden, once the plants are established. There’s nowhere at the moment but who knows in a month’s time….
why walking? I’m intrigued
From what I know, the onions ‘walk’ by dropping their seed, so they reproduce in a new position. (You also eat the seeds which are the onion, if you like, but you need to be careful not to eat them all, otherwise they can’t reproduce.)
Interesting – I had never heard of them. Funky things, hopefully they will behave and not walk all over you and your garden 😉
I don’t know how fast they walk but no doubt there will be an update 😉
Awesome update thank you for sharing have a blessed day Helen
Same to you, Linda.
Well done nothing like adding walking onions to the mix 😃
😊
Never heard of them! Will be great to know how you get on with them!
If they work, I will do a follow-up!
The walking onion is also known as the tree onion… because the new bulbs appear up the flower stem amd not a flower. The walking bit is as you describe… but not by dropping off, the onions plant themselves as a group where the dying stem and they land!
If the old stem folds in half, the onions come up in the same place… if it folds at the base, the new plants come up the height of the stem away. Sometimes slugs do the felling!!
The onions are a fascinating group… try and get hold of some Welsh onions…
They are a type of bunching onion…. tops can be used in Chinese cooking and salads…. bases are rather like shallots… but, certainly with ours, they are square in section… that’s how tight they bunch!!
But tree onions… fun things, fun!!
But you can of course cheat… and dictate how they fall!!
Thanks for all this, Tim. It will be interesting to see how these grow. I still haven’t sorted the bulbs out yet – a job for tomorrow, maybe!