Jan–MarApr–JunJul–SepOct–Dec
Planting
Days to maturity
Seasonal yields
Sow indoors · Direct sow · Transplant outdoors
← Explore Plants
Plant · P-743
Onion
Allium cepa
Onion grows a single bulb of concentric fleshy layers on top of a cluster of hollow, tube-shaped leaves, and both the bulb and the green tops are eaten raw or cooked around the world. It lives more than one year in the ground but is almost always dug up at the end of its first season, once the tops fall over and dry down on their own. It needs a full day of sun and loose, sandy to loamy soil, growing one to one and a half feet tall and six inches to a foot wide - heavy clay is not reported as tolerated by either source. Soil chemistry runs neutral to alkaline, and water needs are reported anywhere from dry to consistently moist depending on the source, though good drainage is agreed on throughout. It shrugs off deer, rabbits, and the growth-inhibiting chemical that black walnut roots release into the soil.
Record at a glance
Growing profile
- Sun
- Full Sun
- USDA zone
- USDA 5–10
- Soil
- Sand · Loam
- Moisture
- Dry · Well-Drained · Moist
Vertical layer
Rhizosphere- Soil pH
- 6–8
- Plant type
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 12–18 in
- Mature spread
- 6–12 in
- Plant spacing
- 6 in
- Root type
- Bulb
- Spread pattern
- None
Keep exploring
Similar plants
Discover more plants with shared forest layers or growing conditions.
Black Salsify
Pseudopodospermum hispanicum
Black salsify is the better-flavored, more forgiving cousin of common salsify, and hardly grown in the United States. Its root can be left in…
Rhizosphere · USDA 5–9
Burdock Root
Arctium minus
Lesser Burdock is a different species from the straight gobo root grown as a vegetable - it is the stronger medicinal plant of the two, rated…
Rhizosphere · USDA 3–10
Celeriac
Apium graveolens var rapaceum
Celeriac is a better companion plant than it is a headline vegetable: growing plants repel the cabbage white butterfly, which makes it worth…
Rhizosphere · USDA 3–9
Daikon
Raphanus sativus var longipinnatus
Daikon is a large white radish grown as much for what it does to soil as for what ends up on a plate - one planting yields root, leaves,…
Rhizosphere · USDA 2–11
Earth Chestnut
Bunium bulbocastanum
Earth Chestnut is a small underground tuber crop that grows through the cool months and goes dormant in summer, much like garlic or another…
Rhizosphere · USDA 4–8
Elephant Garlic
Allium ampeloprasum var ampeloprasum
Elephant garlic is actually a leek, not a true garlic, which is why its jumbo cloves carry such a mild flavor. Cloves go into the ground in…
Rhizosphere · USDA 5–10
The deeper layer
Plan what comes next.
- Primary
- Locked ecological function
- Secondary
- Locked ecological function
- Byproduct
- Locked ecological function
Behind the record
- Locked research reference
- Locked research reference
- Locked research reference