8 Tips to Grow Perfect Onions, Garlic, and Leeks

00:00 - Intro
00:18 - Watering Alliums
01:11 - Mulching
01:26 - How To Fertilize
02:35 - Companion Planting
03:23 - Blanching Leeks
05:00 - Quick Garlic Tips
06:44 - Spooning Onions
07:27 - Choosing Onion Varieties
09:17 - Outro

IN THIS VIDEO

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[epicgardening]

Leeks - Bury deep and forget about them
Onions - Variety selection and short/day-neutral/long day is most important decision
Garlic - Softneck in warm climate, hardneck in cold, can fake winterize hardneck by storing in fridge for 2-3mo then planting

[MetaMonarch]

I couldn’t help but chuckle at Jacque in the background of every scene change lol. Hes just living his garden hermit life.

[staciegulizia]

My onions weren’t forming big bulbs until I learned to move some soil away from the bulb. I learned that from watching Jason from Cog Hill Farm. I wait till I see the bulb start to form above ground, then I move some soil away to give it less resistance. It actually helped a lot! I suspect the timing of this might be a factor.

[cynthiabartz]

I would love to see a video where you and Chris grow the same varieties for a season to see the difference in challenges in different zones.

[cubanmama]

I am growing both hard neck and soft neck garlic varieties that grow in warm climates. I had some success with one variety (Spanish Roja) last year and are trying 5 new varieties this year. They are in 10 gallon grow bags this year. So far, they are doing very well. Fingers crossed.

[aytviewer]

The quality of your videos is superb. Video clarity, clean narration, overlaid music and background environmental sounds are subtle and not overwhelming, camera angles, and focus are all spot on. The editing is perfection. Impressive. I have learned a lot from your videos over the past few years. Thank you for passing on your knowledge. I throw a lot of appreciation your way.

[lindsaykendall]

I grow a ton of onions just so I can make onion top pesto every year. I trim the tops twice during the growing season and I'm able to freeze the pesto to have all year round!

[Jeff-rdhb]

I've been burned one too many times growing onions from sets...way too many flowers & not enough bulb production. Another down side with onion sets is the varieties are extremely limited vs. what you can get with seeds.
For my main onion crop I start seeds indoors Jan-Feb, then plant them out in the Spring. I also direct sow seeds in the Fall & let them winter over, so I get an early crop while my main crop is maturing. By doing this I haven't had to buy onions from the store in years.

[thefishfin-atic]

I live in an area that has huge garlic farms around it, and I am able to chat with lots of very experienced garlic farmers. Each one I've asked has said to NEVER soak your garlic before planting. It promotes rot, and if there is a harsh freeze after you've planted wet cloves, they will likely not survive it.

[yeevita]

Here in the desert, my best alliums are green onions and chives. They seem to be perennial here and grow continuously and spread a bit. Next I would say are garlic, though I am still working on getting bigger bulbs. However, our climate is so extreme that it is possible my small bulbs might be it. They taste wonderful though.

I keep trying onions and leeks. Leeks keep dying in summer, though I have only tried the last 2 years. I am trying again - they are super easy to sprout, even though my seeds are from 2013. Onions are great as green onions but they also seem to really dislike the summers; I lose a lot of bulbing onion plants in summer. I am trying again with a bit more shade and mulch. I am seeing more survive but so far, not much bulbing.

Still alliums are gorgeous and everything love their flowers, which are also interesting as garden snacks or salad topping. Just have to blow off any small insects lol.

[mattisencox]

I can't thank you enough for these videos. 🙏 My only gardening experiences prior to starting my new green thumb journey was basically just throw the scraps in the backyard and hope for the best lol! In Louisiana because of the rich humidity and rain it made that process pretty lazy and easy all year around. We had potatoes, onions, garlic, peppermint, and lots more! I moved to California a couple years ago and now live in an apartment and I have been STRUGGLING, killed almost every single plant I bought when I first got here. 😭 I just picked it back up with the extremely easy insight and guidance from you through these videos and I just got my first harvest of lots of different easy growing herbs and veggies after only a month or so! Thank you!

[kathrynmettelka]

My husband complained about grocery store garlic and asked me to grow some but he asked at the end of February which is too late for Central Texas 8b. I have my calendar marked in September to start thinking about garlic. Varieties, sources, etc. Your video has helped me understand terminology and get prepared.

[dougknowlesjr]

I just ringed in my onions here in zone 9B. I've found it helps with getting larger bulbs by breaking up/loosening the soil around the bulb. LOVE the Video! :)

[JonShep]

In the UK, most people I have seen use a dibber to make a hole drop the leeks in and then water to fill up the hole and that’s that. Great success and nice big white leeks.

[wandafraser]

I would like to see you grow Egyptian walking onions! It’s an interesting plant that I would love to know more about.

[robyndudley]

I love growing alliums. I’m near San Francisco and experimented with short day onion. They’re are showing signs of bulbing but not much. It’s too cool here during the bulbing phase, which ends this month (March) when day length exceeds 12 hours. I have had abundant success with intermediate and long day onion, which gives me a spring and summer harvest. I only trim away green parts for what I eat. But I don’t make it a habit of trimming my onion. I find it counter intuitive to what the plant needs-especially during the bulbing phase.

[VaultDwellerGal]

Great video! The onions in the front and palm trees in the back are a Super Mario Bros 2 throwback. Such a good game too!

[Mstymntntop]

I forgot about the garlic seed I put in the fridge. I thought it was done for (over three months), but I planted it about three weeks ago and already have nice green stalks about six inches tall.

[abyssal_phoenix]

To me garlic especially is my favorite crop ever, it surfaces when all other crops die down in October-December, so it feeds off my summee crops like peppers and tomatoes.
Its also extremely hardy for some reason and it grows while its freezing (thank god the winters are very mild here)
Usually tips get kinda yellow quite early on tho, probably because of the very wet soils that i get during winter from all the rain.
Thats why the bulbs arent the largest but what i mainly just love about it is that it is a 0 care crop for me that keeps the ground alive during the dark winter months.

And it all happened because i once just dumped in a few garlic cloves in the ground for fun and they survived ever since. (Usually one or 2 bulbs stay behind in the soil without me noticing and then pop up later in fall. Maybe I should look into getting a better suited variety one day soon)

[itatane]

Nice to get my gardening fix in while we are still in volatile weather here in -the frozen craphole of Hoth- northeast Ohio. I'm going to try doing my root/bulb/tuber plants in a Ruth Stout patch this year.