Why buy alliums as seedlings?
On Sunday, May 18th I will have a few trays of onions, shallots, and leeks! What are the benefits of growing these alliums, you ask?
1. Organic and hyper local!
Like all of our plants, our onions, shallots and leeks were grown from locally sourced seeds. That means they’re adapted to grow in the Portland metro area specifically. These are from Territorial Seed out of Cottage Grove, OR!
2. Save on time and boost your success.
Growing alliums from seed takes tons of time and dedication. These were started way back on February 1st! If you don’t have that kind of patience, or just didn’t get to them this year, then growing from seedlings is the method most likely to yield large, healthy, and delicious crops.
You probably won’t find onion seedlings grown to the advanced stage we’re offering them at any other plant nursery because it’s just not profitable for nurseries to sell them like this. Sets (small, immature onion bulbs that are grown from seed in the previous season and then harvested while still small) are cheaper and more hardy plants for nurseries to stock, but they won’t yield the same size for the gardener and they often bolt.
The tiny seedlings bundles nurseries offer in late March to early April are so small and their roots so shallow and dried our that they have a high risk of dying before they can take in your garden. Not ours! Just take a look at those long healthy roots:
3. Flavor and storage.
Like any veggie you grow yourself, the flavor of a home-grown onion or shallot outshines any you can buy at the supermarket. Add that to the fact that supermarket alliums are often already pretty old (we’re talking MONTHS old) so they don’t even last that long in storage. The Patterson onions we’re offering this year stores up to 12 months!! Talk about a comfort in uncertain times. Learn more about how to store onions and shallots.
4. Pest management.
Alliums and shallots are companion plants, a necessary part of any organic garden. Their strong scent helps to scare unwanted bugs away from your other crops. My Grandmom always grows alliums with her roses! They also go great with tomatoes, peppers, and brassicas.
Final Thoughts:
This is by no means a “cash crop.” So why are we selling something we cannot profit from? We want to encourage gardeners to grow their own alliums! They store terrifically well, you need them in almost every dish you cook, and they’re so much better than anything you can buy when you grow them in your own backyard.
