Onions are a true delight of the garden. Of all the vegetables that taste best when grown in your own Coastal Bend soil, onions, along with tomatoes, are at the top of the list.
Grown in China 6,000 years ago and in Egypt at least 4,000 years ago, the onion has been documented since the earliest gardens of civilization. The Egyptians believed it to be a divine vegetable due to the concentric rings, and some pharaohs were even buried in onions.
The 1015 Supersweet onion is, in my opinion, the best of all. This variety was invented by a Texas Aggie horticulturalist named Dr. Leonard Pike, and, thanks to his innovation in flavor, onions are the leading vegetable export from Texas.
Onions are in the allium family along with garlic, chives, leeks and shallots. With substantial health benefits, the vegetable is rich in antioxidants, possibly providing improvements in circulation, heart health and cholesterol.
But the real reason to grow onions is the unbelievable difference in flavor when grown in your own garden. Onions take longer in the garden to mature than most vegetables, but they are more than worth the wait.
Gardener’s Notes
Growing Up: Onion starts are recommended rather than seeds. Spacing, 4”. Bury the bulb no more than 1” deep and in full sun. Extremely rich, well-drained soil is required. Add three to four inches of compost to soil, along with two cups of native wood ash and two cups of pastured poultry manure per 100 square feet. Fertilize in December and again in February. Maintain consistently moist (but not wet) soil. Apply a continuous layer of native leaf mulch to retain moisture and suppress weeds.
Profiling: The onion is a good companion with carrots and lettuce, and its scent repels pests. If planted in the fall, it will mature between March and May the following year. Choose a sunny part of the garden you don’t mind committing to onions for several months. Harvest when the tops turn yellow and bend over. Pull gently from the soil and cut the roots with scissors if necessary. To store, braid the tops and hang in a cool, dry place.
Fun Facts: The 1015 Supersweet onion is revered as the best of all sweet onions. Its inventor, Dr. Leonard Pike, named it 1015 to remind farmers to plant them on October 15. It was declared the Texas state vegetable in 1997. Pike also developed the “Aggie Maroon Beta sweet carrot” and many other vegetables; and his agricultural inventions have contributed billions of dollars to the Texas economy.
