I read somewhere (for the life of me I can't remember where it was, but it was about 2 months ago) that every time you peel an onion, you should NOT throw away the end with the dried roots.
Why?
I'm going to show you :)
I was making a mixed salad à la RMan - he's not into cutting lettuce on his plate - too much effort. But, if I chop everything up really small, he'll wolf it down - and when I'm wanting to get "greens" into him, I'll go to the effort.
So, while I was slicing and finely chopping the onion, it occurred to me that I had not shared this tip with you.
But, I'm getting distracted. When you take an onion - before you peel it, you'll notice that the root section is all dry.
I was making a mixed salad à la RMan - he's not into cutting lettuce on his plate - too much effort. But, if I chop everything up really small, he'll wolf it down - and when I'm wanting to get "greens" into him, I'll go to the effort.
So, while I was slicing and finely chopping the onion, it occurred to me that I had not shared this tip with you.
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| Salsa type salad of finely chopped onions, tomtoes, carrot, and avocado - served with my tomato based salad dressing - I'll do anything to get veggies into RMan's stomach LOL |
The tomatoes came from my garden - a late surprise harvest which the mice didn't find. I love the yellow tomatoes, even though their "shelf" life isn't the greatest, But they are really 'meaty' tomatoes compared to the normal red ones.
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| Don't you love yellow tomatoes - they're so meaty compared to normal red juicy ones |
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| Dried out onion roots |
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| Pop the onion cuttings in a shallow bowl of water and leave for a couple of days |
Pop it in a shallow bowl with a bit of water - just enough to wet the roots - and, literally, in 2 days, those dry lifeless looking roots will have swollen up.
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| The roots grow again :) |
Place that piece of onion in the ground, and just cover with soil. Two weeks later, this is what will greet you :)
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| Those two reconstituted onion roots are now healthy looking onion plants - and that took 2 weeks |
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| RMan's chopped salad before it got plated up |
So - now you know. You can grow an onion from the dried out rooty onion end. How cool is that :)
Nifty!
ReplyDeleteI wonder if that works with celery "butts"?
Fun to try, if anything.
Have a great weekend, Dani!
Sue - where are you - I can't comment on your bog and your other one has disappeared...?!
DeleteI have heard that you can grow celery from it's roots, but I've never tried it.
You have an excellent weekend too :)
Dani-it all became "too much" with 2 blogs so I deleted the one, and my garden one is just used as my record of planting dates, etc. But worry not--I shall pester you here to the ends of time-LOL!
Delete:D
I had some scallions that I did this with. Except I didn't soak them first. They all grew well & I have been using them but .... I didn't think to even re-plant those re-planted onions. And the roots are plentiful, I think I'll just keep sticking them back in the ground. Thanks for the reminder. And, I have finally rooted an avocado, albiet accidentally - lol. Don't know if it will last but I'm giving it a try!
ReplyDeleteDFW - You're welcome :)
DeleteWe have three avocado trees which I've grown from the pip - but I understqand that it may be a l-o-n-g time before they bear fruit - if they ever do... Time will tell.
Wow ... what a fabulous tip! I'm going to try it! We love fresh grown onions so this is going to be so helpful. thank you! :-) By the way ... that salad looks yummy!
ReplyDeleteSmall Footprints - You're very welcome :)
DeleteYes - t'was yummy :)
I knew about spring onions but I never thought of other types. I'm going to give this a shot. I planted walking onions last year. They are small but grow new onions on the top which then bends the leaf to the ground and they start growing. A continuous cycle! I'm hoping they will keep me permanently in onions with one additional planting of brown onions at this time of year.
ReplyDeleteLinda - I've never heard of walking onions - they sound intriguing...! I must see if I can get them here?!
DeleteI didn't know that! Thanks for the tip. And SM is the same as RM. If I didn't make him a salad he'd never bother. MEN!
ReplyDeleteTami - You're welcome :0
DeleteI have often commented on your blog about how similar your and my reactions are, and RMAn and SM are so very similar too. Thought I could be offending you with my "oh, we're the same" type of comment so I stopped. There are times though, when we could be twins :)
And RMan has done the same as SM - removing unwanted trees / bushes using his tow hitch and a strong cable... :)
Carrots tops work the same as the onions. Just sit the top in a little water until some green leaf appears and then transplant. Unfortunately the avocado grown from seed is not true to type and will most likely produce fruit of a different size, flavour etc or worse not produce fruit. But the seed plant makes good root stock for grafting a piece of a proven avocado.
ReplyDeleteJohn&Jean - Welcome - and thanks for taking the time to comment :)
DeleteAh, I HAVE to try carrots as well - thanks :) Yeah, I know the avo's may not produce, but the pips grew in my compost heap, so I thought why not try planting them, and see what happens. If nothing else, they will provide shade during our hot summers :)
Wow, I had not idea, but it makes perfect sense to me. Can you do this year round I wonder? I think of onions in the fall planting but I wonder if it would work in the hot summer? Heck, can't hurt, right? I might just try this next time. Thank you!
ReplyDelete1st Man - From what I hear, you need never plant an onion seed again - so I guess it must be year round :)
DeleteDani, I have a brown thumb but I think I just might try this...what have I got to lose? Thanks for the tip.
ReplyDeleteMsBelinda - You're welcome. Have a try, what can it hurt :)
DeleteThanks for the tip on the onions - I've passed it on to my brother and he's going to give it a go on his allotment. Memories brought back of putting carrot tops into saucers of water on the windowsill to watch them grow but then we never did anything with them - the bit about planting them out at that stage never made it to our house somehow (actually my mum grew up on a farm and I think she hated anything to do with what she would have considered to be hardship, such as not being able to buy groceries and having to grow them yourself).
ReplyDeleteI've heard of walking onions before but had forgotten about them. They're one of the things Mark Diacono has in his book, Taste of the Unexpected (great book if you can get your hands on it although not sure how much of it would be useful for your climate), really weird looking things.
Moonwaves - I assure you it works :)
DeleteSounds like a fascinating book - will see if I can find any info on it - thanks :)