When can I pull spring onions?

8–10 weeks after sowing, when the stems are 15–20 cm tall and pencil-thick. Don't wait longer — overgrown spring onions get tough, fibrous, and develop a stronger flavour that's less pleasant in salads. Slip a fork under the row to loosen the soil before pulling — snapping the stem off saves the root in the ground but loses the white base. Pull whole row at peak, use what you need, fridge the rest (3–4 days max).

How do I get spring onions in March and April?

Sow White Lisbon Winter Hardy in late August. The seedlings establish before winter, overwinter as small plants under snow if necessary, and resume growth in early March. First pulling: late March in southern England, mid-April in the Midlands, late April in Scotland. This gives you fresh-pulled spring onions weeks before any spring-sown crop is ready. The earliest fresh kitchen-garden onion of the year.

Why are my spring onions bolting (flowering)?

Heat stress + dry soil. Spring onions bolt to flower (a single tall flowering stem rises) in hot dry conditions, then leaf production stops and the bulb base toughens. Three preventatives. (1) Water consistently in dry weather. (2) Skip the hottest midsummer sowing window if your garden is dry. (3) Pull at the right size (pencil-thick) rather than letting them stand. Bolted spring onions are still edible — the flavour just becomes stronger and the stem tougher.

What's the best spring onion variety for the UK?

White Lisbon — the workhorse of UK gardens, mild and reliable for March–September sowings. White Lisbon Winter Hardy — the autumn-sowing variant for March–April pulling. Red Beard or Apache for red-skinned salad colour. Welsh onion for a perennial bunching onion that crops year after year from the same clump (different species — Allium fistulosum). For a single variety, White Lisbon covers most needs.

Can I grow spring onions in a pot?

Yes — perfect for pots. A 25 cm pot of peat-free compost holds 20–30 spring onions. Sow thinly, thin to 2–3 cm apart, water consistently. Pot-grown spring onions pull at the same size as in-ground ones. Continuous supply: sow a fresh pot every 3 weeks. A pot lasts about 6 weeks from sowing to last pull. Three pots in rotation gives a household continuous spring onions from May to October.

What's the difference between spring onions and Welsh onions?

Different species, different growth pattern. Spring onions (Allium cepa varieties): single stem from a single seed, pulled whole, annual crop — must re-sow. Welsh onion / bunching onion (Allium fistulosum): perennial, forms clumps that divide year after year, pull individual stems from the clump while it regrows. Welsh onions are slightly stronger flavoured and very low-maintenance once established. Many UK kitchen gardens grow both — Welsh onion as a permanent clump, spring onions for the milder annual crop.

Frühlingszwiebel

Allium fistulosum

Sow spring onion seed direct from March to September, every 3 weeks, in sun in any decent garden soil — they're one of the easiest UK kitchen-garden crops and a steady supply takes minimal effort. Spring onions are hardy (RHS H4–H5) and a late-summer or early-autumn sowing overwinters to give the earliest fresh onion of the year in March–April. White Lisbon is the UK workhorse — reliable, mild, classic. White Lisbon Winter Hardy is the autumn-sowing variant for overwintering. Pull when stems are pencil-thick (15–20 cm tall) — leaving longer makes them tough. Successional sowing every 3 weeks is the only way to keep tender spring onions coming all season. They're useful companion plants for carrots — the onion scent confuses carrot fly.

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