Planting Egyptian Walking Onions – A new crop!
I’m excited to start a new crop this year that I’ve never tried before. I’ve heard about this perennial onion from several permaculture resources. It will multiply year after year once planted. I love the idea of planting more perennials that will require less work and cost each year, but honestly haven’t planted much of them on our property. I think in the long run perennials can be really beneficial since many of them also tend to root deeper over time and require less water.
Egyptian walking onions have three main parts – the bulb that grows underground, the green stalk above ground and the bulbils or “topsets” that grow out of the top. All parts are edible! Once planted the bulbs underground will multiply and can be eaten like a small, regular onion or a shallot. You can dig the new ones out and as long as you leave at least one in the ground each year, they will continue to grow new ones for next year.
The green stalks that grow from the onion above ground, can be cut and eaten like green onions or chives, leaving the undergrown onion to grow more.
Finally, where these onions get their “walking” name from is the bulbils that grow at the top. If the greens are not cut, the bulbils get heavy and pull the top of the plant down to the ground. Sitting on the ground, the bulbils will re-root, starting a new plant.
I ordered these few bulbils to start.
The really small ones can be left attached to each other and the larger ones I broke apart and planted individually. Each is planted 1-2 inches deep in the fall, a green shoot appear in the spring and then the below ground onions in the summer. It’s recommended not to harvest any parts of them for their first year to let them get established and start multiplying. Excited to see them come up in spring, but it’s going to be hard to leave them alone for a whole year! I’m trying to think of it as an investment – with a little patience now, we’ll be one step closer to sustainably producing more for ourselves.
Look forward to an update next spring and summer!
Jessica Ahola
Hello! I'm Jess Ahola. I live on 5 acres in Rainier, Oregon with my husband Anthony and our young son Eivin. As an aspiring homesteader I knew there would be challenges in many areas, but learning how to homestead on a property with no fresh water was a big challenge we were not expecting! While we continue to figure out water, homesteading and life in general, I'm enjoying the progress we make and excited to share how our situation evolves and what we learn in the process.
