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Page
2 of this issue features a captioned slide show on how to harvest and prepare
Wild Green Onions, and further information on how to identify the plant. Botanical,
historical, and medicinal information, recipes, and links can be found on Page
3.
Slide
Show Harvesting
and Preparing Wild Green Onions |

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Tools
Required: Scissors or sharp knife preferred, not necessary.
Total field harvesting time: as long as it take
to snip, snip, snip.
Total
home preparation time: 2 minutes (depending on the quantity)
Yield:
leaves, flower stalk, bulbs, bulblets, roots.
Flavor:
Strong onion smell and flavor.
Harvesting
Tips: These perennials come up twice a year, spring and fall, for
many years. To have your cake and eat it too, harvest all
your onions at once by cutting the whole clump off about 2-3 inches above
ground. The plant will sprout more leaves almost immediately. Continue
in this manner all season, chopping and freezing the leaves for future
use. They only sprout for about 6 weeks, so do this throughout the growing
season. If you are lucky, you'll have harvested enough to last throughout
the year. (You
can do the same with domestic chives, shallots, leeks etc. Just buy some
at the grocery store, cut the roots off about 2-4 inches from the bottom
and plant so the tops are at soil level in your garden. They will sprout
new leaves and multiply for years to come.)
Storage: Keeps in refrigerator for several days, and for several months
in the freezer. I chop mine up in tiny bits and freeze in a zip lock bag
for handy use.
Serving Suggestions : Sprinkle
like chives on baked potatoes, add to soups, stews, sandwiches and salads.
Anywhere you'd use onions. The little bulbs are edible if peeled and can
be chopped up with the leaves, eaten raw, pickled, roasted, sauteed, etc.
The roots are tough, but are great additions to the stock pot if well
washed.
Notes:
A little wild onion goes a long way. They are stronger than domestic varieties.
If you cut them off above ground level, they will keep growing for a longer
harvesting season. While none of my reference books say it, I always get
a second harvest in the fall.
Nutritional properties: Onions are said to be high in Vitamin C,
phosphorus and iron, and of course, chlorophyl.
Medicinal properties: Onion and garlic are both well known anti-microbial,
anti-catarrhals and immune system boosters. Eating too much can cause
diahrrea. If you eat wild onions, as well as other wild greens, mosquitoes
and gnats will leave you alone. Go to Page
3 to learn more.
Propagation
by Bulblets
Wild Onion is one weed that grows easily in cultivation. It propagates from bulblets
which form on the stalk after the flowers are spent. Harvest the stalk when the
bulblets are fat and about to fall off. Just scatter the bulblets around in your
yard, in partial sun, preferably in places that won't be disturbed. They are not
invasive, will come up for you year after year, and are very attractive in a flower
bed. (One of my links on Page 3 shows how they look, in bloom, in a rock garden.)

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Propagation
by bulb. You
can dig a single bulb or if you're lucky enough to find a clump of bulbs like
I did, separate them carefully, and plant 6-12 inches apart and 3 inches deep
in a place that won't be disturbed, or right out in your lawn if you don't plan
to cut the grass. Partial sun seems to be their favorite spot where summers are
very hot. Dig
deep or you'll cut through the bulbs. Some of them are buried pretty deep. These
were from 4 to 5 inches deep and had been there for many years. |
| ONION
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| Wild
Green Onion's "signature": - Leaves
and flower stalk grow from a bulb.
- Bulbs
grow singly, or in clumps.
- Leaves
are long, thin, narrow and flat, often U shaped, not hollow like wild garlic,
around 3 to 6 leaves coming up from the bulb.
- Strong
oniony smell and flavor.
- Flower
stalk is solid, with a tough outer skin.
- Flowers
grow in a cluster at the top of the stalk. Some varieties are white, some pink,
some lavendar.
- Bulblets
form at the base of each flower, which scatter and make new plants.
- Plants
reach around 12" to 28" in height.
- The
flowers appear as clusters of ten to thirty on top of 10- to 15-inch stems.
- The
perennial bulb lies about 2 to 4 inches underground.
Click
on the photo(s) below to see enlargement, for better identification. 
Close-up showing
a cluster of bulblets. and withering flowers. This picture is about half-size.
There
are other plants in the field which could be confused with green onion, but you
can always tell an onion by its oniony smell and taste. |
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Identification
by flower: 
The
onion flower is strikingly beautiful in the landscape, arranged as an impressive
cluster of flowers, ranging in color from white to pink to deep reddish pink,
atop stiff round 12-18 inch stems. Each little flower has 6 pointed petals, with
6 bold yellow stamens that extend beyond the petals. 
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Cultivation:
This plant lends itself very easily to cultivation. Easily grown in average,
dry to medium wet, well-drained soil in full sun to light shade. Best
in full sun, but appreciates some light afternoon shade in hot summer
climates. Best in rocky or sandy soils, but thrives in clay soils too.
No serious insect or disease problems. Foliage dies back in late summer.
In Zone 8, leaves tend to sprout up again for a second crop in the fall.
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for natural health. This is a great guide for women to keep handy when
a health issue arises.
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