We plant onions in the winter. What varieties to choose? Planting onions before winter: the best varieties, growing conditions and care

Winter in the vastness of our vast homeland is different - from the notorious frosts of Siberia to the subtropics of Crimea. From the region of your residence, from the softness or severity of the winter, it will depend on which variety of onions is best planted in the winter. Each region has its own local varieties adapted to weather conditions and grown in the right climate. Some restrictions, of course, exist - you should not plant southern, heat-loving onion varieties in winter if frosts in your area sometimes approach Siberian ones.

Why plant onions in winter

It is strange, but even 10-15 years ago it was not customary to plant onions in the winter. Even now, not everyone knows about this possibility. Meanwhile, this is a great way to get an early onion and feather. For winter planting it is better to choose the smallest bow, up to 1 cm in diameter. These bulbs make an excellent onion turnip. And if you want to get an early onion for a feather, then opt for onions 1.5-3 cm in size. There will be no strong onions from them, but the feather will appear pretty quickly.

You can grow onion sets yourself, then you will definitely be sure of the quality of the selected variety. But he does not tolerate storage very well. The smallest seeds, which will produce good firm fruit, dry out first during storage. It is necessary to create special conditions for storing seed, monitor its condition, and regularly sort it out.

To grow sevka, you need black onion. This is not some special variety, as the small seeds are called. onion from which sevok is grown. To receive good stuff(nigella) it is better to select the largest and healthiest bulbs from the selected variety. You can plant them as spring period, and before winter. In summer, flower stalks (arrows) will appear on plants among the greenery, on which umbrellas with small dark grains are formed. This is the blackberry.

Onions from black seeds germinate for a long time. A good head may not have time to form in one season, but for growing a set it is best option. Small onions planted in the winter will give a large, strong turnip.

To get really good material you have to try. In this way, it is better to grow seeds of some special variety, for example, with an unusual sweet taste or good ability to withstand the winter.

Much easier to buy local market a half-liter jar of sevka (for some reason it is always sold in such jars), and then sorted and sorted by size. There is only one drawback - as a rule, there is no question of any variety in this case. The set may include large and small seeds, red and yellow, round and long. If the variety is not fundamental, then such a purchase is quite profitable - all the bulbs are clearly grown in your area, have managed to get used to the climate and will not be afraid of frost.

Winter onions produce a crop at a time when other crops in the garden have not yet ripened. This will relieve the busy schedule of spring-summer work a little. And in place of the former onion beds, you can place other vegetables or herbs. Thus, from one site it will be possible to harvest twice a season.

Another undoubted plus of planting before winter is a significant time saving in the hot spring. Yes, you will have to look after the plants, but the loss of time will be incomparable.

Winter onion varieties

Better to choose winter cultivation hybrid varieties or a view designed for short and medium daylight hours. This means that the formation of the bulb will begin when the daylight hours are 12-14 hours. Sevok, intended for spring planting, it is better not to plant before winter. These varieties do not tolerate low temperatures, and after freezing, arrows begin to shoot early.

Must meet the following requirements:

tolerate frost well;
grow quickly and actively in spring;
give maximum germination;
form a healthy strong bulb.

Best planted before winter the following varieties:

Arzamas;
Danilovsky-301;
Stuttgarten Riesen;
Strigunovsky;
spool;
Ellan;
Bessonovsky;
Odinovets;
Chalcedony;
Carmen MS;
Myagkovsky-300;
Radar;
Shakespeare;
Kip Vel.

The last three varieties appeared relatively recently, these are specially bred winter species. All of these varieties are early maturing and quite resistant to the formation of arrows. If it is possible to plant several different varieties, it is better to do so. Then it will be possible to compare the results and select the type that will give the best results. Do not forget about the taste:

bulbs with golden husks are harsh and bitter;
purple and white vegetables have a sweeter and milder taste.

Sweet varieties include:

Exhibition - lettuce variety, at good care can grow up to 1 kg;
Globo - a late-ripening variety, the head grows up to 0.6-0.8 kg, resistant to diseases;
Sterling F1 - Dutch hybrid, semi-sharp, resistant to root rot;
Spanish 313 - late-ripening variety, head weighing up to 0.2 kg.

As a rule, before winter it is better to plant varieties with a sharp taste. Their sweeter counterparts love warmth and do not tolerate frost well. But in southern regions you can successfully grow in the winter way and sweet varieties of onions.

Of great importance is the place of purchase of seeds. If you are purchasing finished material, then there is no guarantee that this variety is suitable for your garden. Sevok, bought in bulk at the local market, is definitely grown in your area, which means that it has already been acclimatized and will not freeze when severe frosts begin in winter.

In addition, it is important that the seeds are sized:

onion diameter less than 1 cm is called "oatmeal";
bulbs 1-1.5 cm in size belong to the first category;
diameter 1.5-3 cm - the second category;
the size is more than 3 cm - samples.

The best onions are given by the smallest seeds - "oatmeal" or 1 category. They are recommended to be planted in the winter, because most of the small seedlings do not survive until spring - they dry out during storage. As a rule, arrows are almost not formed from small onions planted in winter.

Material of the 2nd category and samples are planted in winter to obtain early greenery. A small set also gives a feather, but it is small and weak. Large onions release tight tall greens almost immediately. But here, too, there is a catch. When the temperature rises, flower stalks appear among the greenery - arrows. You can fight them for a while, but great benefit it won't bring. When the arrows went up, the crop can be safely harvested.

Right time, right place

It is impossible to name the exact date for the start of onion planting before winter. Each region has its own deadlines. For the climate of the middle lane, it is optimal to start work in the beginning - mid-October, but in each case you need to focus only on local conditions. It is clear that planting in frozen ground does not make sense, but planting early can also bring problems - the sowing can “wake up” ahead of time if the weather is too warm. If this happens, the greens will freeze and the entire future crop will die.

Planting too late will not give the bulbs a chance to take root, they will simply be stored in the ground until spring. As a result, you can forget about the early harvest, all the benefits of winter planting disappear. When choosing a time, it is recommended to build on the temperature of the soil. When the earth steadily keeps the temperature around + 5 ° C, it's time to plant winter onions.

Checking the temperature of the soil is quite simple. Make a small hole (5-10 cm) and lower an ordinary outdoor thermometer (not a medical thermometer!) into it. Repeat measurements several times during the day. The average measurement will be the stable temperature of the soil.

More than two years in a row in the same place the beds should not be done. Only four years later it will be possible to return to the previous site. Rotate crops to increase yields. Onions take root well after cereals, beets, tomatoes, cucumbers, cabbage. But potatoes, parsley, celery can transmit their diseases “by inheritance” through the soil. It is convenient to plant winter onions with a “second wave” after early varieties radishes, carrots and beets.

Onion beds are located in an open, sunny, but protected from the wind, place. Suitable humus-sandy soil or loam. The selected area must be well drained, moisture stagnation can lead to decay. Weak root system can't find nutrients in poor soil, so the kidney must be fertile. Before work, you need to loosen the soil well and add humus to it (5-6 kg per square meter) and mineral fertilizers(10-15 g of potassium salt and 20-25 g of superphosphate per square meter). Immediately before you start planting, sprinkle the ashes (about 10 g per sq. M).

We are preparing a garden

Regardless of the variety chosen, it is necessary to plant onions before winter in pre-dug and prepared soil. After digging, the earth should have time to settle and compact a little, only then you can start planting. The height of the beds should be about 18-20 cm. A low bed will not save you from frost in winter.

Let's get to work:

For sowing up to 1 cm in size, we make grooves 4 cm deep (for light soil) or 2 cm (for heavy soil). We bury the smallest seeds no more than 2 cm. The distance between the furrows must be kept within 15-20 cm.
We lower the sowing into the grooves so that the neck is 1.5-2 cm below ground level. The distance between plants in a row is 8-10 cm. Before planting, the onion is not soaked and the neck is not cut, as during spring planting.
From above we cover with earth, then you can mulch with humus. This will reduce evaporation and protect the roots from freezing.
At the next stage, it is recommended to additionally warm the onion for the winter with sawdust, dry leaves, spruce branches, which will need to be removed in the spring as the snow melts. In the process of harvesting, be careful not to hurt young shoots - they may not be visible under a layer of insulation.

After you have finished planting, you do not need to water the onion. If the weather is dry, you can moisten the soil a little in ten days. After the onset of frost, you can additionally cover the onion with dry branches, which will hold the insulation in place and trap snow in the winter months. If the winter is snowy enough, the snow itself will serve as additional shelter. In snowless, cold winters, it is worth additionally covering the top with plastic wrap.

Planting onions on greens is no different from the described process. The difference is only in the selected variety and the size of the set.

After winter, onion beds need to be opened. This is done when the soil has already warmed up. The film retains moisture, the seeds can get wet or rot, and the mulch will not allow the sprouts to develop freely. The film should be removed earlier, and the mulch removed about a week after that. When the land is freed, it is once again sprinkled with ashes and well loosened.

Useful tips for planting onions in the winter:

The landing time is individual for each region, but on average it is the middle - the end of October (if the ground has not yet frozen).
It is better to cover the planted onion (mulch) with peat or sawdust with a layer of 2-3 cm in order to save the sets from freezing. You can do this a little later, but be sure to before the onset of frost.
In winter, you can additionally insulate with a layer of snow, at temperatures below -10 ° C, such protection will not hurt.
For the same purpose, you can sketch grass, leaves, small twigs on top - they will hold the snow well.
In the spring, remove the shelter and make sure that there are no puddles on the surface of the beds, the sevok can get wet and rot.

Onions planted in the winter ripen earlier than spring planting, and usually produce a large, strong bulb, regardless of the variety chosen. Insects (onion fly) do not have time to spoil the plants, because by the period of their activity, the set acquires a good root system, inaccessible for laying fly eggs.

Winter onions are profitable and convenient, but it is far from always possible to grow good harvest. This may be the result of a gardener's error (too deep or early boarding, lack or lack of insulation, incorrectly selected variety) or the vagaries of the weather. In some regions, frosts in winter are so strong that no amount of insulation will help. In practice, to understand which varieties will give a good harvest in your garden, you can only by trial and error. Try to choose local varieties that are adapted to the weather and follow all the rules for planting and caring for onion beds.

Onion sets should be planted during the period when the first stable frosts appear. Focus on the following metrics:

daily air temperature - from 0 to +5ºС;
average night air temperature - -3ºС;
temperature of the topsoil - +3-+4ºС;
warming is not predicted.

The best time for planting onions in areas with not very cold winters is from late October to early November - 30-35 days before the onset of stable cold weather. Keep an eye on the outdoor thermometer: if the temperature drops to 5 ºC and lasts for several days, then it's time to plant onions.

Small sets of arrows do not form, and this is its colossal plus. This is true - tested in practice. Over the entire growing season, I break out literally a few pieces of flower stalks from my onion beds - with normal fit it also happened that almost every second bulb gave an arrow.

I draw your attention to this important nuance: do not try to plant before winter large sevok! Shooting in this case is almost guaranteed. I plant a little large set on a feather: at first, small greens give a weak, small one, and a full-fledged feather immediately comes from a large one. But it gets a little warmer - and flower stalks appear, that's all - the onion can be pulled out.

The second plus is early harvest. My onions ripen already in July. By the way, the benefit here is twofold: firstly, when the onion fly threatens spring plantings, the onion planted before winter is already strong enough, and its pest almost does not damage; secondly, harvesting falls on a relatively calm time, and on the vacant beds you can sow greens or early ripening vegetables- will ripen quietly until autumn. By the way, there is less trouble with weeding.

Onion is a cold-resistant culture, shoots of winter onion plantings appear literally from under the snow; a rare weed can compete with them in this. Well, when the weeds grow, my onion is already noticeable, strong - there is no need to fear that you will pull it out along with the grass. Yes, and there is less harm to him from weeds.

It is, of course, necessary to sort out planting material. We select all damaged bulbs, sick, dried up. Be sure to calibrate - lay out in size. There was a time when I neglected it. Not critical, but the harvest is worse: in the garden where it is dense, where it is empty. Now I plant a larger onion separately, then - an average analysis, then - the smallest fraction: a large onion from such a set (1-3 mm in diameter) rarely turns out, but the greens are excellent. Planting is usually advised in grooves 5 cm deep with a distance between bulbs of 6-7 cm and between grooves - 15 cm. I prefer holes; the rest of the parameters are the same.

It is worth considering that, in comparison with garlic, for example, onions have lower winter hardiness, so do not deep landing fraught with freezing, especially if frosts come before snow cover. To secure the future harvest, onion beds should be covered. They do this after the first frost seizes the soil (do not rush - there is a risk of damping). I cover with spruce branches, but you can also use straw (I tried it - I liked it, but now there is nowhere to take straw), dry plant stems (for example, Jerusalem artichoke) and similar materials. It is possible to mulch plantings with dry sawdust or peat before frosts - it also does not hurt. In the spring, the shelter is removed when the soil begins to thaw. By the way, the mulch also needs to be removed: under it, the earth will warm up longer - checked!

When is it better not to plant onions?

In general, one should be guided by the weather: the onion should have time to grow roots before the onset of cold weather, but sprouts should not be allowed to appear. If you plant a bow ahead of time, it will go into the arrow and die from frost, with a late planting there is a risk that the roots will not have time to develop, and the seedling will freeze in the ground. Some gardeners believe that planting onions in the ground at the end of November is the best solution, but in this case the result depends only on luck.

Preparing onion sets for planting

Planting onion sets requires completion preparatory phase. Before planting in the ground, the seedlings are carefully sorted out, rotten or rotten bulbs are removed, seed with shoots and damaged ones must also be separated and not used for planting.

Before storing the onion sets, it is necessary to carry out the warming procedure.

At a temperature of 40 degrees for 8 hours, the onions are warmed up and thereby activate the awakening of the kidneys and reduce the likelihood of bulb shooting. Warming reduces the risk of onion morbidity with various infectious diseases.

The most remarkable onion grows on silt deposits in the valleys of warm rivers. Before planting, the soil must be dug up in advance with humus (5-6 kg per m²) and mineral fertilizers at the rate of 10-15 g of potassium salt and 20-25 g of superphosphate per m². Instead of mineral fertilizers, ecofosca can be applied from the same calculation. Before planting, it is advisable to scatter ash over the area at the rate of 10 g per m².

It is not necessary to water winter onions after planting - it is possible to moisten the site, if there is no rain, in ten days. When frosts come, mulch the area with winter onions with dry leaves, spruce branches, pine needles, and from above, press the shelter with branches so that it is not swept away by the wind. If a cold and snowless winter is expected, you can cover the area on top of the mulch with a film. You won't need a film in snowy winter.

As soon as the soil begins to warm up in the spring, remove the film from the winter onion, and after a week remove the mulch, sprinkle the area with ash at the rate of 10 g per m², and loosen the soil. If you remove the cover too late, the onion can get wet under the film, and the mulch will delay the passage of sprouts through the thickness of the earth. It is desirable to loosen the soil after each rain or watering, while freeing the site from weeds. The formation of four leaves in the seedlings indicates that the bulb has begun to form, which means that it is time to make a second top dressing, but before that, thin out the onion if it grows too thick. Pulled plants can be eaten.

As a second top dressing, 15-20 g of superphosphate and 10-15 g of potash fertilizer are applied per 1 m² of planting, and it is better to pre-dissolve superphosphate granules and ash in a solution of fermented herbs.

Instead of mineral fertilizers, liquid chicken manure can be applied. If the spring is wet, the onions are watered infrequently, but if it is hot and dry, you will have to arrange watering twice a week. To prevent the onion fly from ruining your crop, plant marigolds or calendula around the perimeter of the area with onions - this is guaranteed to save you from trouble. Winter onions ripen about a month earlier than those planted in spring.

Advice: To prevent the appearance of onion pests, I shake the needles from the spruce branches on the garden bed and then dig up the ground. I add ashes to the dug-up bed (three cups of ash per square meter) and three buckets of vegetable compost. All this is thoroughly mixed, loosened, leveled and watered the bed.

Leaves should not be used to cover the beds fruit trees, which often serves as a source of plant diseases and a wintering place for pests. Birch leaves rot easily. Oak - good.
With the help of branches laid out in the garden, snow retention is carried out for additional insulation. When the temperature drops to -10-12⁰С, additional snow can be thrown on the landings. During thaws, onion plantings are inspected, and bare shoots are covered with mulch. Shelter will help the sevka planted before winter to winter well and give friendly shoots in spring, and in summer - excellent harvest high quality onion.

Despite the fact that onions are considered one of the traditional crops grown in summer cottages, it is very demanding and sensitive to climate change. If the summer is damp and rainy, then part of the crop disappears, rotting. If it is hot and dry, you should wait for shooting. To avoid these unpleasant consequences and to harvest a good crop of onions, more and more often, when growing it, it is used not yet common, but very effective method- landing before winter.

The growing popularity of this landing method every year is due to a number of advantages:

The economic benefit is an important factor, because in the spring, when the prices for planting material (including onion sets) soar to prohibitive heights, it will not be possible to save money. AT autumn period You can buy onions for planting much cheaper.
Early harvest - winter onions ripen in July. After harvesting, the freed areas can be used for growing green crops and early ripening vegetables.
Ease of weeding - due to the onion's resistance to cold, its seedlings appear very early, and by the time the weeds begin to "seize the territory", it will get stronger, which greatly facilitates the work of weeding.
Saving time - if you plant onions in the fall, you won’t have to spend time planting them in the spring, during the hot season for summer residents.
Keeping quality - ripening strong and healthy, bulbs from winter plantings are perfectly stored for a long period.

However, not everyone succeeds in planting onions for the winter the first time. To avoid failure, it is worth dwelling in detail on the main points of this productive technique.

Features of the choice of planting material

The first step to a good harvest is the right choice of onions for winter planting. There are four categories of onion sets:

Category 1 - the diameter of each bulb does not exceed 1–1.5 cm.
Category 2 - diameter from 1.5 cm to 3 cm.
Samples - the diameter of the bulbs from 3 cm or more.
Ovsyuzhka, or oatmeal - bulbs non-standard shape not exceeding 1 cm in diameter.

For growing strong high-quality turnips, small planting material is used (first category and oatmeal). For landings on a feather, a large set is considered the most suitable (second category and samples).

Location

Under the plot for winter onion planting, you should choose an open sunny place, while the likelihood of stagnant water, which can lead to rotting of the bulbs, should be completely excluded. It is worth paying attention to those areas where the snow melts earlier in spring, and the soil is loose, breathable with a neutral reaction.

The best predecessor crops for onions are carrots, potatoes, cucumbers and legumes. It is not recommended to plant sevok in the place where cabbage was grown before. Do not plant onions in the same area for the second year in a row.

Determination of landing dates

Since there are no specific dates for planting onions before winter, this issue should be guided by the climatic features of a particular region and the nature of the weather of the current season. The most important condition for successful wintering onion and its good germination in the spring - before the soil freezes, the rooting process of the onion should be completed. If in daytime the temperature fluctuates from 0° C to +4° C, and at night it does not fall below -3° C, the landing dates have come. In some areas, suitable temperatures are observed in mid-October, and in others - towards the end of November, therefore, personal observations of the gardener play an important role in determining the timing of planting.

Work order

Having determined the terms and choosing the landing site, the work is carried out in the following sequence:

They dig up a plot for onions and make a ridge, the width of which is about 1 m, the length is 2 m, and the height is about 18–20 cm.
To increase the friability and nutritional value of the soil, 1/5 buckets of humus and 1/3 buckets of sand are added to it, after which the planting site is carefully loosened and leveled with a rake.
On the surface of the beds, every 20 cm, several furrows are made with a depth of no more than 2–4 (deeper planting can cause the bulbs to rot).
Bulbs are planted at intervals of 8-10 cm, slightly compacting the soil around them.
The landing site is mulched with any natural material(dry grass, straw, fallen leaves). It is worth noting that choosing sawdust or peat as mulching materials is not The best decision. Due to their small size, it will be very difficult to remove them from the garden without damaging the seedlings. A natural insulation (spruce branches or brushwood) is laid on top of the mulch. Important! It is impossible to use plastic wrap to cover winter onion plantings.
In winter, when the thermometer drops below -10 ° C, it is recommended that onion beds be further protected from frost by covering them with snow.

In the spring, as soon as warm weather sets in, onion beds are freed from mulch, as it does not allow the soil to warm up, which leads to a slowdown in crop development. Bulbs that have not survived the winter are replaced with new ones.

Water the onion as needed. In dry weather, this procedure should be carried out at least twice a week, pouring on each square. m for 7-10 buckets of water. In bad weather, in large numbers precipitation, onions do not need watering. The first signs of crop maturation (yellowing feather, lodging) serve as a signal for the complete cessation of irrigation.

Popular varieties of winter onions

It’s worth mentioning right away that almost all varieties of onion sets are suitable for planting before winter. The main condition is that they must be adapted to the climate of the landing region. With proper agricultural technology, there are no problems with zoned crop varieties. However, some hybrids have performed so well that many experienced gardeners give preference to them.

Stuttgarter Riesen. high yielding variety universal purpose. The bulbs are large (up to 200 g), dense, flat-round shape. Differs in early maturing.
Keep well. A great frost-resistant variety. The bulbs are large (70–80 mm), with a dark bronze sheen of dense scales. Thanks to a powerful root system, it is successfully cultivated in areas with an arid climate. Well kept.
Hi-keeper (Hi-keeper). Is different early dates maturation. golden bronze large bulbs(60–70 mm in diameter) have a rounded shape. Cold resistant.
Tough ball. Large (60–70 mm) rounded bronze bulbs have tightly fitting scales. The hybrid is characterized by high winter hardiness and resistance to shooting.
Arzamas. A popular medium-sized variety of national selection. Bulbs of medium size have a round-cubic shape. Possesses good keeping quality.

Based on the foregoing, we can conclude that the method of planting onions before winter is not only effective, but also quite simple. Following simple rules, you can easily get an excellent harvest of strong large onions, while saving money and time.

In the last article, I wrote that one of the ways to save sevka in winter time is his landing before winter. The main thing is to choose the most suitable variety and guess the landing date.

Set selection

You should make a choice in favor of winter varieties of onions. The following have proven themselves well: Bessonovsky, Zolotnichok, Kip-Vel, Radar, Strugonovsky, Shakespeare, Stuttgart, Ellan. It is also worth looking for varieties zoned specifically for your region.

Many summer residents notice that they endure wintering better early ripe varieties with a golden husk and a sharp taste. White and red onions are more demanding on temperature; it is not recommended to plant them before winter.

Try to sow several varieties of sevka in the first year at once in order to subsequently choose the most productive of them.

Preparatory work

Before planting, the selected sevok must be carefully sorted out. First of all, get rid of bulbs that have diseases and damage. Dry specimens most likely will not sprout. Bulbs with a diameter of less than 1.5 cm are planted to obtain turnips, and larger specimens are planted on a feather.

10-12 days before the expected date of planting, the seeds are heated for 9 hours at a temperature of +40 to +45 C. To do this, put it near a battery or other heating device. It can also be heated in the oven.
At the next step, the seedlings are disinfected. First, it is kept for 4 hours in a saline solution (1 tbsp. rock salt per 1 liter of water), and then the onion heads are soaked for another 2 hours in a solution of potassium permanganate or blue vitriol.
The final stage- soaking sevka in growth stimulants. Suitable - "Gumat", "Epin", "Zircon". They will stimulate root formation, due to which the onion will be able to go into winter "hibernation", having accumulated large quantity nutrients.

After the second step (decontamination), the onion sets can be washed in clean water dry and store certain time. Processing with biostimulants is performed immediately before planting.

Landing dates

Winter sets should be planted, focusing on the temperature - the daytime should not exceed +5 C, and the night should drop to -4 C. In this case, the bulbs will grow the root system and will not go into the feather. Sprouted sevok will die with the onset of frost. Onions planted at low sub-zero temperatures will not take root. It takes about 40 days for a set to form a sufficient number of roots.

In Central Russia, sevok is usually planted from early to mid-October. Try not to plant sevok during the period full moon, be guided by the lunar calendar.

The soil

A place for sevok should be chosen well-lit and protected from strong winds. The site should not be swampy. It is better to land on a small hillock, where the water does not stagnate for a long time. If there is none, make high ridges for sowing, additionally create drainage systems.

It is advisable to sow seedlings in those places where radishes, cabbage, various greens, tomatoes, legumes, potatoes, cucumbers were previously grown. Bad predecessors are celery, radish, carrots.

The digging of the site and the formation of ridges are carried out 2-3 weeks before the planting date. During this time, the earth will be compacted, which means that the bulbs planted in it will not be washed away in the spring by melt water.

The soil must be disinfected with a solution of potassium permanganate or copper sulfate (1 tablespoon per 10 liters of water, enough to treat a plot of 5 m2) and be sure to fertilize. As top dressing, rotted organics (4 kg of humus per 1 m2) and mineral fertilizers (2 tablespoons of double superphosphate per 1 m2) are suitable. I also recommend adding a small amount of crushed wood ash.

The applied fertilizers should be mixed with surface soil. Ridges with a leveled surface about 19 cm high are formed from the resulting composition. If you make the ridges higher, the sowing can freeze in winter. On lower ridges, there is a high probability of damping out during spring thaws.

In dry autumn, 24 hours before planting the seedlings, the site is well watered.

Landing rules:

Small sets (up to 1.5 cm) are planted to a depth of 2-3 cm, and large bulbs that go to the feather are buried 3-4 cm into the ground.
It is best to plant sevok in a checkerboard pattern. 7-8 cm recede between adjacent plantings in a row. Adjacent rows should be 60-70 cm apart from each other. I recommend placing 2 rows close to each other, then receding 65 cm and placing the next 2 rows, etc.
At the end of planting, the ridges are mulched with a layer of dry leaves, straw, spruce branches or peat. Never use for cover. polyethylene film, under it the landings will certainly vypreyut. In the spring, with the onset of heat, it is advisable to remove the mulch.

Benefits of autumn planting sevka:

The price of sevok in autumn is lower than in spring.
Winter onions keep better.
Bulbs do not need to be stored in the winter.
Podzimny landing - excellent preventive measure against peronosporosis.
Only the most healthy bulbs will survive the winter, which will give a quality crop. Where the onion rarely sprouted, you can additionally sow sevok in the spring.

I wish you good harvests of this wonderful crop!

Onion is perhaps the most sought after vegetable crop. The consumption rate of onions is 8-12 kg per person per year. Every gardener dreams of getting as many tight golden bulbs as possible.

Agrotechnics of cultivation of this culture is simple. Onions are grown on a biennial cycle. In the first year, commercial heads can be obtained using only a limited number of varieties.

Therefore, in the first year middle lane Russia practice seed cultivation planting material. Further grown onion sets are planted in spring or autumn to obtain marketable onion heads.

To get a good harvest, you need to consider such biological features Luke:

onion is a biennial plant;
onion is a cold-resistant crop. small spring frosts up to -3 ° C, the onion tolerates without damage;
the root system of the onion is fibrous, the roots are not very long, therefore they have a small suction capacity;
onions do not tolerate a lack of lighting.

An increase in temperature in the spring of more than +25 degrees delays the growth of leaves. Onions are very demanding crops for moisture, fertility and soil structure.

Bulb sets must be stored at a certain temperature. It is not always possible to fulfill this condition. If the storage temperature is high, then the bulbs will dry out, if it is too low, then after planting the seedlings will throw out the flower stalks.

Autumn planting sevka eliminates this problem. When the air temperature drops to + 2.3 °, you can start planting onions. This rule must be observed so that the bulbs grow roots, but the leaves cannot start growing.

In the spring, thanks to the already formed root system, the onion quickly grows in late March, early April, when the air temperature rarely rises above + 20 °.

The spring moisture accumulated in the soil gives a good starting impetus. Daylight hours are still short. Onions quickly grow roots and green mass.

strong plants are less affected onion fly and false powdery mildew. Plantings are easy to weed, because the onion overtakes annual weeds in growth. To get a good harvest, you need to select winter varieties suitable for growing in central Russia.

Onion varieties suitable for planting before winter

So, for planting before winter, the following varieties of onions are suitable:

"Strigunovsky". Early maturing spicy variety.
Variety "Stuttgarten Riesen". High-yielding variety resistant to downy mildew.
Myachkovsky. At winter landing gives a stable harvest.
"Carmen". Variety with dry purple scales. Bulbs reach a mass of 100-120 grams.
"Silver Prince" Medium late variety. It is considered the leader in terms of yield for winter sowing
"Small nest". This variety has good keeping quality.

Preparatory work for autumn planting

The bed must be prepared in advance. A place for a garden bed is chosen with a slight elevation and well lit by the sun's rays. The best soil composition for growing onions is sandy loam or light loam with a granular or lumpy structure.

It is better to plant onions after the following crops:

vegetable peas;
zucchini;
early and mid-ripening cabbage;

Note: re-planting of this culture in the old place is allowed after 4 years.

The earth in the beds must be dug up and at the same time humus should be added at the rate of 2-3 kg of humus per square meter, as well as mineral fertilizers: superphosphate and potassium salt.

Then everything is leveled, and left for subsidence of the soil.

Before planting, onion sets are cleaned and sorted by size. Furrows are made every 35-40 cm between the rows. Bulbs up to 1 cm in diameter are planted at a distance of 4-5 cm between each other.

For sets 1-1.4 cm in size, the distance is increased to 6-8 cm, and the largest ones (1.5-2.2 cm) are already placed at a distance of 8-10 cm from each other.

Note: from bulbs with a diameter of more than 2.2 cm in the first year, a flower "arrow" can already form.

When planting sevok, the soil is compacted around the bulbs with a palm or a board, so that when growing, the root system does not push the bulb to the soil surface. The surface layer of soil above the bulbs should be no thicker than 2 cm. Since when the bulbs are deepened, their growth is retarded and yields are reduced.