How long do onions take to mature

Last Updated: January 17, References Approved. This article was co-authored by Steve Masley. Steve Masley has been designing and maintaining organic vegetable gardens in the San Francisco Bay Area for over 30 years. He is a Organic Gardening Consultant and Founder of Grow-It-Organically, a website that teaches clients and students the ins and outs of organic vegetable gardening. This article has been viewed , times. Onions are as simple to grow as they are delicious to eat in a variety of dishes.

While most of the onions used for cooking are yellow onions, the mild, sweet taste and attractive coloring of red onions make them a favorite for salads and colorful garnishing for many recipes. Planting red onions uses the same method as yellow onions. The easiest way to plant red onions is to use onion sets. These sets are second year bulbs that you can find at a garden store. Planting red onion sets will give you mature, red onions within three to four months from planting. Before planting your red onions, find a sunny location for your garden and test the soil for pH levels and nutrients.

Red onions Allium cepa feature red or purple skins surrounding red and white interior layers. While onions are biennials, hardy in U. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 5 through 10, most gardeners plant red onion sets.

Learn which plants thrive in your Hardiness Zone with our new interactive map! Onions planted from seed are used as green onions within 40 to 50 days of planting. They are fully grown in 90 to days, depending on the variety. Onions planted as soon as the soil can be worked in early spring are ready for the table by July. Successive plantings throughout the spring produce fresh onions all summer long.