Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Egyptian Walking Onions

Have you ever heard of walking onions? I definitely had not up until a few weeks ago when David's aunt gave us some of her plants for our garden.


What makes these onions unique is that they form a cluster of tiny "bulblets" where other onions would only produce flowers. The onions emerge from the ground in early spring and continue to grow all season long, eventually reaching up to three feet tall. At this point, the bulblets are too heavy for the tall, thin plant to hold them up, so the plant falls over and the bulblets hit the ground forming roots and new plants where they land. Hence the term, walking onions!

Little bulblets from the top of the plant.

The whole plant can be eaten, with the main onion in the ground appearing similar to a leek with a pungent flavor. The young greens can be tossed into a salad, and the bulblets are great for pickling. These perennial plants are very prolific and will yield bigger topsets of bulbs each year and will produce new onion bulbs in the soil so you can even divide the plants each year. 

Occasionally the plant will grow tiny flowers with the bulblets.

Since we just planted them this summer, next year we may only see greens pop up, but the year after that they should be well established and come in at their full potential. They are very hardy plants able to withstand cold winter temperatures, so they should be just fine in our climate here in Missouri.

For more information on these neat onions, you can visit this site. From there you can even order some if you wish, or if you're lucky, maybe you know someone who will give you a few starts from their plants!

Do you have walking onions in your garden?

~Tammy

40 comments:

  1. rather cute. no, i've never heard of walking onions.

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  2. I think they're nice to look at too. I haven't seen them or heard of them, but I like that they have a pungent flavor. We're not growing onions, but I wish we were, hubby just called and asked if we have any at all in the house and we don't. Time for a grocery store stop. :)

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  3. These are so interesting! I have never heard of them or seen them. I hope you share their progress through the season! They look to be zoned even for life in my cold climate, so I will be watching for them!

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  4. That is so cool! I've never heard of these types of onions before, but I love that they're a perennial. :) That makes it a lot easier!

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  5. Well Tammy thank you I went to the link and it appears we do have some of them I am going back and see to make sure. Interesting. Thank you. They are very cool. B

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  6. How cool is that?! Something else to look forward to in the garden!

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  7. I have never heard of these before. I wish my mamaw were still here and I would ask her - I'd bet money she heard of them. She was an onion enthusiast :-)

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  8. How cool is that!! Such a useful, hardy plant. Would love to plant some of these as our onions don't always do that great. Thanks for sharing- I had not heard of walking onions before!

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  9. I have never heard of these! We did plant some onions though.

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  10. I've had these in the garden for years. I especially like that they are perennial which is why I wanted to grow them. And they are prolific! I am in hardiness zone 6b and they do well here. As you said they are hardy. :-)

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    1. I meant to mention that I love your blue colander.

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  11. Strange...LOL! I don't do onions. Never had too much luck with them.
    Farmhouse hugs,
    Cindy

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  12. I have never heard of them, but they are really neat looking!

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  13. Those are so neat.. I wonder if they could withstand our Canadian Winters..

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  14. Amazing. Though I've heard of walking catfish, never onion...:)

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  15. Wow, walking onions! I've never heard of them till today and I think they look and sound amazing. Do they taste like normal onions?

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  16. very very interesting! I've never heard of them before. :) Since they can withstand cold winters I'll have to look into them. Thanks for featuring them!

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  17. YUM ... *fade to singing * ~ "walk like an Egyptian ... onion " ;)

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  18. Havent heard of them but I must try them! Look yummy!

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  19. I grew them once long ago but I used all mine. These would be a great plant to share with friends...what a fun thing to share! Enjoy yours!

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    1. Thanks for the info on them too...I always get them confused with the bunching onions that I grow and your post cleared it up for me!

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  20. They've definitely got me singing the old Bangles tune. :)
    Those are so cool!

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  21. We have them growing everywhere Tammy -- we plant them in with our flowers because they are so pretty!

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  22. New to me, they are cute! Happy 4th of July!

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  23. Tammy, we don't have any walking onions, but now I want some! We do have other plants that sure seem to get around to other parts of the garden easily, though-like walking tomatoes, and walking zucchini;)

    Happy 4th of July!

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  24. now that's one creative name/title! =)

    Happy Independence Day!

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  25. What a great name. I like onion flowers - they are so pretty.

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  26. I have heard of them, but have never seen them. They look wonderful - I love perennials. xo

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  27. How neat! I've never seen them but have heard about them, although I didn't know all the details. Great post!
    ~ Kathi

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  28. Those are so interesting! I sure have never heard of them before, but will be looking for some. Thanks for sharing!
    Liz

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  29. I've definitely never heard of them, but they sound interesting. I would be interested in trying one someday - I love onions.

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  30. Gosh that's amazing never heard of these , interesting Post Tammy

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  31. How neat! I had no idea about them, I'll check out the website. Thanks for sharing, I'd never have known!

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  32. I have never heard of these onion. Interesting. No onions are growing in my garden this summer. I'm bummed about that.

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  33. My Mama calls them winter onions and gave us some last fall. We got bulblets the first year! You can see some of the progress of ours at:

    http://summersacres.blogspot.com/2013/05/winter-onions-6-month-update.html

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  34. Never heard of them. But now after your description, I want them!

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  35. This is another new one to me, interesting!

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