At the beginning of the summer we planted green onion seeds that have now grown into 12 inch high green onion plants. I plan to harvest some of these plants soon, but what happens if I leave some of them in the ground for a few more weeks/months?
Will the plants continue to grow and just become large green onions, or will they turn into normal onions at some point? The reason why I ask is because last year we planted normal onions and until they were fully mature they looked exactly like green onion plants.
I always thought green onions and regular onions were completely different things, but now I’m wondering whether that is true or not.
Yeah, they’ll mature and grow into “full” onions. Depending on the variety they may have a good size bulb or only a middling one (pearl onions). They will also send up a seed stalk. Onion farmers let the stalk form, then knock it over and let the onion dry out before harvesting.
There are two main types of onions that differ in the length of daylight needed to trigger maturation. Lots of lesser known variants, etc.
“Green onion” is a term that is used both for a young version of a “true onion,” or for what is also known as a “scallion” (among many other common names). A scallion, unlike a true onion, never develops a large onion-like bulb at any maturity level.
If you got the seeds from a packet, can you check that for details on which variety you have?
They’re all edible (they’re all Allium cepa, all the same species) though of course big, old shoots can be a bit tough; otherwise, roughly speaking, they all taste the same, but some varieties can be a lot stronger flavoured than others.
Normally, varieties eaten immature are milder, but it does vary- there are some heritage kinds of large bulb onions that are so mild you can eat them whole.