Re-growing onions?

Kiely
by Kiely

About 2 or so months ago I bought this onion from the store, stashed it in a dark cabinet, and forgot about about it. I recently found it again while doing some spring cleaning, and it had begun to sprout! It was still inside the loosely tied plastic produce bag, and it looks pretty healthy. I planted my first garden last year, so I'm still pretty new to this and I don't know much about growing onions. My question is: can I plant this little guy in my garden? If so, how and when should I do it?

The bulb is about 4" in diameter, and the stalks are about 8" tall. Crazy, right?!
  10 answers
  • Shelley Shelley on Mar 16, 2014
    You can also grow celery! I did it and it worked like a charm. I got the idea here: http://www.17apart.com/2012/02/growing-celery-indoors-never-buy-celery.html
  • Jeanette S Jeanette S on Mar 16, 2014
    I know a lot about how to plow and lay out a garden, but seem to have forgotten just about everything to do with actually planting! I can see my grandfather planting...even onions and potatoes...but for goodness sake I can't actually recall how to do it. BUT! I am going to learn. Son and I are going to plant "things to eat" this year. It will either be fun or a mess...will keep you posted! Good luck to you too!
    • Bernice H Bernice H on Mar 16, 2014
      @Jeanette S I keep thinking this too! However green onions is about as far as I get! ha! Go for it !!!
  • Douglas Hunt Douglas Hunt on Mar 16, 2014
    I think you're going to get onion flowers, not an edible onion.
  • Victoria Larsen Stencils Victoria Larsen Stencils on Mar 16, 2014
    I don't think you can just plant it in the soil, but I do know that if you stick just the bottom of the onion in a small container with just about 1/2" of water in it, it won't rot but will continue to grow and you can simply keep chopping off the green onion tops for use in cooking.
    • See 1 previous
    • Victoria Larsen Stencils Victoria Larsen Stencils on Mar 17, 2014
      @Teresa Church My Sister is doing the same thing. She even does it with celery! I'm going to have to try it for myself.
  • Barbara Hobbs Barbara Hobbs on Mar 16, 2014
    I planted several garlic pieces and the green is about 2 feet high....when is the garlic ready??
    • See 1 previous
    • Teresa Church Teresa Church on Mar 17, 2014
      @Barbara Hobbs I always dig my garlic when all of the green dies, they come right up and that is all there is to it.
  • Bernice H Bernice H on Mar 16, 2014
    @Kiely What a nice surprise for you, sometimes those things will rot! I have done this with store bought green onions, I have planted them in dirt, then I snip off the tops as needed, they continue to grow. I don't know if you can recover the onion itself, but if the green tops are what you will use, you can even plant it in a pot for house use! and it looks pretty also. When I have left onions out in the garden, the next year the green tops will come up again, but the onion itself doesn't look so hot. So I just snip the greens and use them! :)
  • Buster Evans Buster Evans on Mar 17, 2014
    I tried my luck with onions, and they didnt do so good... but you buy what they call ONION SETS which are small bulbs similar to the green onion, you dig a spot fir each set and sorta just barely stick the bottom into the soil mounding the dirt around it, then as the onion grows you keep clearing away the soil around it as it gets bigger. When they are the size you like you remove the bulb from its spot and cut off the green top and the roots, thats your onion.. At least in theory thats how it was suppose to work... I ran my rows the wrong way and kept getting too much water standing around the bulbs and they didnt "make".. HOWEVER that being said, if this onion you have is past the edible stage, what would it hurt to try setting it in the soil, and see what happens... who knows its sprouting for some reason.... I always like to "TRY" whether it grows or does anything or not...
  • Vicki K Vicki K on Mar 17, 2014
    I don't see why it won't grow in your garden, it has life, it has sprouted, plant it, but not deeper than the neck to the shoulders of it. Keep it watered if dry, and don't plant near any wet areas. You can snip it for "chives", it has already made its onion - don't know what will happen next - go see!
  • Bstevenb Bstevenb on Mar 27, 2014
    Growing onions from seeds or sets (tiny bulbs) is easy. Try that instead. Your mature onion has been vernalised. Devernalization is no longer an option.That onion's bulb will never get much larger. It will flower for you if you plant it and and at best just offer many, many seeds for next year.