I like to do things just because I like to do them. Can I go to the store and buy Maple Syrup? Yes. Of course I can. I'm not an idiot you know. Well, sometimes I am actually, but not in this particular instance. The time I tried to teach myself taxidermy? That's more of an "idiot" instance.
The reason I do so many things myself is because I'm curious. I like to do things on my own because I think it's fun. A lot of times it saves me money, occasionally it saves me time, but it always, always is entertaining.
The odd time I come across something that's just too incredible to ignore.
This ... is one such time.
A few weeks ago, The Art of Doing Stuff reader Kim Merry, emailed me asking if I'd heard of growing green onions from the green onion roots you cut off. After sitting calmly to lower my blood pressure, and taking a good stiff drink to get rid of my trembling hands, I emailed Kim back. NO! NO I HAD NEVER HEARD OF SUCH A THING!!!
I thanked Kim for letting me know about this process and immediately started Googling. From what I read it appeared as though myself and the crazy guy in town with bells on his shoes were the only ones not growing green onions from the onion stumps.
According to the Internet, to grow beautiful green onions all you have to do is stick the roots in water and watch em grow! Overnight practically!
At this point in my research I was so excited I almost had to put in a piddle pad next to my computer. It was *that* exciting. Since I always think I'm out of green onions and therefore buy them every single time I'm at the grocery store, I had an entire crisper full of green onions to experiment with.
I did a bit more research and found you could do the same thing using soil. Soil, being less exciting than growing something with just air and water only elevated me to a state of "Yay". As opposed to the near stroke-like condition I was in up until that point.
So I rolled up my sleeves (they were short sleeves so I looked kind of like the Fonz) and got to work. Cutting onions, taking pictures and documenting the whole experiment for 3 weeks. Here's how it went.
The Great Great Onion Experiment
Grab a bunch of Green Onions
Chop off the roots, leaving a bit of the white part. I left varying sizes of white from a tiny amount to a large amount.
Stick the roots in a jar of water.
Stick them on a sunny windowsill. I had quite a struggle keeping the onions standing upright. I had to use tweezers to get them in the jar and lean them against the side to stand up. Then they fell down.
Plant a few green onion stumps in soil. Just stick em in and leave them.
Would you like to save this stuff?
We'll email you this post, so you can refer to it later.
According to most sites these will turn into lush, green onions in a matter of days!
3 weeks pass.
Behold the Great Green Onion Experiment Results.
I ended up transferring the green onions in the jar into this contraption. After 4 days or so the green onions in the water rotted to a disgusting, putrid mess.
So I tried a glass filled with water with a glass flower frog to hold the onions on top. This way the onions would stay upright and not too much of the base would get soaked. Brilliant, right? Didn't work. Clearly.
The green onions in the soil did much better. The stumps actually produced green onions. (just the green part .. the white part doesn't grow)
However, having said that, for 3 weeks of watering etc., and a kind of mediocre result I'm gonna have to call this experiment a fail.
Although technically the technique works ... for me ... it just ain't worth it.
It didn't produce results worthy of a piddle pad. Which is what I was hoping for.
Feel free to give it a shot. But if after 3 weeks this is all I ended up with, I think I'll continue to spend the $0.69 and buy my green onions.
So no more green onion growing for me. I'll leave the vegetable growing for the front yard. Funny. I guess it turns out the guy with bells on his shoes is smarter than he looks.
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Kaitlen
Karen,
I've been following you since I saw you in the #1 spot for the Homies (which you clearly should have won btw--not to raise a sore subject), and I couldn't stand it any longer. I had to tell you. For all the world to see--not that they know who I am. But. I just love/adore/feel so good after reading/wish someone would give you your own tv show/admire/and am constantly inspired by your blog.
Each entry is a sweet little package that offers more information than I obtained in my undergraduate college career, laced with some of the funniest sh*t I've ever read. You make people want to be your next door neighbor. Not only so they can spy on the cool projects you've got going on, but because you may have one of the best personalities ever to be given to a human being. You are endless entertainment.
And for that, I thank you :)
P.S. I know nothing substantial about green onions to contribute to this post.
Karen
Kaitlen - Thanks for saying that! And your last line made me genuinely, bona fide, laugh out LOUD. Good job. :) ~ karen
Doni
I just stuck my roots in the dirt and they grew up fine. I mentioned this to my dad, who fancies himself a farmer but is really an 85 year old accountant by day, and he just humpphed at me and said he would stick with his tried and true onion sets from the market. His veggie garden is to die for, he feeds numerous families throughout the summer with beets, broccoli, spinach tomatoes and potatoes. I might try it again though, and the celery too since I now live in farm country and I have good soil and a natural water supply (rain) which I didn't have in Colorado.
Anemone
I love the white parts. I would probably say this is more of a post-apocalyptic project. For now...$0.69 it is.
Karen
"this is more of a post-apocalyptic project." Love that! LOL. ~ karen
Hollie @ I'm Busy Procrastinating
Saw a pin about regrowing green onions from stumps on Pinterest. Hadn't tried it yet. Glad to have you as my guinea pig.
Julie
Karen, I just read a review of a book and thought of you! It's called 'The Wilder Life,' by Wendy McClure. She LOVES the Little House series and immersed herself in "Laura World." Churned her own butter, etc. Not sure if she grew her own green onions, but otherwise it kinda sounds like a normal day in your life :)
Karen
LOL. Yup. ~ karen
Laura Bee
They look like teeny tiny octopi!! I was so excited! What a let down.
My mum-in-law has two or three avacadoes growing. The plants are about 3" tall. No fruit yet. I have never has luck with them.
BUT- my garlic is up about 6" or 8" already. Say when, ok? How do you know it's ready?
Laura Bee
ummm...just checked the link above-nevermind.
Karen
Laura ... LOL. Won't be ready for a while. I'll let you know. ~ karen
Del
Well, just to change direction here and I maybe talking out my hat (I frequently do). But, have you ever planted a garlic clove? Just the regular stuff you get fromt the fruit and veg. I have and they grew - no internet info, just an old gardener told me. Takes a little time though.
Karen
Del - Yes I have. For years now. That's how you plant garlic! https://www.theartofdoingstuff.com/how-to-plant-garlicnows-the-time/ ~ karen!
deborah345
thank you
Amy in StL
Last fall I started to plant the sad wilted green onions that were forgotten in a crisper; in a flower pot that had an herb that didn't make it. The onions made it all winter. Now, I only go through about a half a bunch every week so it keeps me in onions unless I'm cooking for a group of folks. (In which case I add the leftover wilted onions to the pot.)
Kate S.
If you want to grow them in water, you need to leave 3-4" from the roots and it works best if you change the water daily. (Changing the water also eliminates the onion-water odor several people are complaining about.) However, I don't really recommend the water method; there isn't much nutritional content within water for the plants to eat, meaning your green onions wont be all that healthy. They do much better in soil.
I'm surprised your soil results were mediocre--it works really well for us. We have fresh green onions all winter long in Illinois using this method. I do grow a much larger grouping though, about 30 plants in a large dish.
Diane
Well crap! I was hoping this would work much faster. We already grow ours, but from the white onions that start to sprout in the back of the crisper that we've forgotten about. We stick them in water on the window sill...same deal, really. I find it convenient in those times that I realize I'm all out of green onion and it's too late to run to the store. Always have a fresh bit laying around! Plus I'm not much of a gardener, so it gives me a green thumb feeling...lol :P
Love that you blog your fails...saves the rest of us time! :)
Christy Taylor
I'm DYING reading your blog, husband swears you're my internet doppelganger, cause he thought this way my blog initially, lol.
The onions start best in water, but after they sprout, transfer to soil. I haven't bought onions in years cause of this truck my Great-Grandmother taught us all. Same for garlic and sprouted potatoes.
I found your blog by wondering how to continue to grow the onions I found growing in my compost heap, lol.
So I'm just going to put them in dirt in hanging pots in the dining room and hope for the best, lol.
Thanks for the joy from reading your stuff
Nancy Blue Moon
I am also with you on this Karen..I like the white part best so it would be a waste of time for me..When I was a kid..Mom would buy green onions..wash and cut the roots off..put them in a glass of water and set it on the table to snack on with salt..she was a big onion lover and would also make onion sandwiches..no kidding..butter two slices of bread..slice onions onto bread..add mustard..eat..also very good with purple onions and now sweet onions..I really don't recall hearing of sweet onions when I was little..
charlene
I was cleaning out my chives the other day and pulled some out of a spot they werent supposed to be in. I realized that the root of the chive looked like a green onion.
When I went on the internet and saw that you can eat all parts of a chive. The white root part tastes like a mild onion.
I guess you would have to have a big patch, which I have, so I am going to try eating those this summer instead of buying green onions.
Just a thought
Gayla T
I put a pineapple in a pot a week ago and it's not looking so good. I did this years ago and I can't remember any great results so I have an idea it didn't work any better than the onions. I'm so glad you did this before I heard about it and felt I had to try it. I used to have what was called Walking Onions meaning that you plant them and they walk all over your garden and they did. They got this little seed pod on top of the green on the older ones you didn't use and then the green bent over from the weight and the seed pod made contact with the soil and they grew. They even stayed green in the winter and you could push the snow away and pull some. As usual I am obsessing over the part of the post meant for grins and giggles. Where would one get those shoes with the bells on them, do you think? I could wear them on St Pat's and April Fools day and probably just other days when I feel like such a fool. You know, when you think you saw gold printing on the towel ribbon when it was really on the chocolates ribbon. I got my ribbons confused with all the other confused stuff in my brain which in a way is good as it keeps one from thinking that they know everything and life is getting boring. When you are 30 and think you know everything can you imagine what it's like to be well over 60 and really do know most stuff? LOLOLOL
Karen
:) ~ karen
jamie
maybe it has to be warmer?
Carly Mae
I've been a huge fan of your website for about a month now (I spend my nights reading ALL your previous posts) but this is my first comment. And I hate to say it, but you did it wrong! My boyfriend and I grow our own green onions in a cup on the kitchen table. Instead of cutting the onions all the way to the root, just snip off however much of the green part you'll need. We chop them down to the white part and, before the week is done, we've got more onions! They grow quicker than we can cook them and get so long we end up having a trailing green onion plant hanging off the edge of the table...I consider it organic decorating!
Linda Sessoms
How often do you change the water and what kind of cup? Clear glass, metal, ceramic...? Thanks!
Trissi V.
I tried growing green onions in a flower vase with water. I hadn't cut them down so dramatically to the little stumps, but left a bit of green. They actually grew pretty quick and didn't rot...but the smell after a week drove me crazy. I kept going into the kitchen saying "Something smells like onions...ack!" Turns out it was the onions...had to throw them out, I could not live with that smell all the time.
heidi
I also noticed when I did this and put the onions in the water, the water smelled disgustingly like green onions. It was overpowering the kitchen. It seems like planting them is the way to go.
Kim from Milwaukee
Heidi, I think you've just solved my problem of my girl kitty eating my herbs on the windowsill...keep a glass of green onions there, too! She will hopefully turn her nose up to all those greens thinking they all smell! Thank you!!! My next experiment, thanks to Karen and her blog commentors!!
Spokangela
I think I will stick to my chives :)
All this green onion business reminds me of when my daughter's boyfriend (who is VERY new to cooking) was helping in the kitchen. He was put on slicing green onion duty and very matter of factly asked me, "Did you want to keep the tentacles?"
:)
Diane
I don't know but I would think closing the lid on your jar did not allow for fresh air. I would think logically, plants would need fresh air continually in order to grow. Your way seems toxoc...Just my opinion.
Karen
Hi Diane - I have no idea what you're talking about. I didn't close any lid on any jar. ~ karen