Spring Onions a.k.a. Salad Onions a.k.a. Vidalia Green Onions

[DougGuy]

In Georgia, where they grow Vidalia Onions, in February/March they start shipping these wonderful Vidalia Green Onions to the stores. Some growers call them Spring Onions, or Salad Onions, but you only get them in February/March, and maybe a little into April. They start out early in the season with bulbs about the size of golfballs, then later toward the end of the season they are like tennis balls, then you don't get them anymore. They used to get them every year in Food Lion stores, but the last couple of years they quit getting them all together and they were VERY hard to find, lucked up and got some at Whole Foods this last spring. Good thing they freeze well, because they are the best green onion to cook with and I use them year round when I have them.

This is what they do, and no other onion does this except these. When you cook them in peas, beans, lima beans or butterbeans, potatoes, with garlic, the garlic and the onions sorta cancel each other out and they make this real unique slightly sweet taste that you can't taste garlic or onion, but they make a really nice flavor when used together in these dishes. You can cube up potatoes and cook them with garlic and these onions, and it makes a killer base for chowder or crab soup. I just love how that perfect sweetness comes out. Anyway, long story short, I put in an order for 1 bundle of sets, which is 100, to be delivered mid November when the growers start shipping them from Georgia.

I can't use all 100 sets, so I am going to offer some here to spread around if you guys want some just pay the postage on them and I think I can get some out as soon as they come in. Could probably ship in sfrb, won't know until they get here how big they will be or how many will fit in a box. I'm thinking I can't use any more than 20, and I'd like to share some in the Gardenaholics Anonymous facebook group, so I am thinking there may be 4-5 small bundles for this castboolits forum and about the same amount for the facebook group. Anyone interested just reply in the thread and I will let y'all know when they come in.

[farmerjim]

I grow them down here, but I start them from seed. I plant my seed around 10/15 , about a week ago, then transplant them in December. I have bulbs like in your picture about end of Feb. We use them for cooking and local sales till the tops start falling over. They are then pulled cured and sold as sweet onions. I can not call them Vidalia onions because they have patented the name. But I grow them in a low sulfur soil and they are just as sweet. If you want to try them from plants you can get them from dixondale farms (http://www.dixondalefarms.com/) We don't get the spring onions in the stores here so I only get them by growing them myself.
I sell them with my other vegetables at the local farmers markets. Good luck in your gardening. Can't do better than the taste of home grown vegetables and fresh meat harvested with a cast lead Boolit.

[MaryB]

Wonder how well they would do in the frozen white north? AKA Minnesota?

[farmerjim]

They are short day onions. You need long day onions for the north.

[shoot-n-lead]

I live in Vidalia Ga...I was born and raised here...these onions are grown in a 13 county area in southeast Ga. I know a lot of folks like them and we grew them when I was growing up...but the only way I eat them is as onion rings.

DougGuy, when I send my cylinders to you for reaming, we can trade out some of the fee with green onions.

[DougGuy]

Hey that'll work! These sets come from a farm in Lyons, GA. I think that is squarely in Vidalia country is it not?

[MaryB]

What I figured, this summer was a challenging growing season for even here with cool and wetter than normal.

[DougGuy]

When they arrive MaryB if your ground isn't frozen yet, I guess you could try them and see if they will grow there?

[bnelson06]

Only hope in nov is to grow them inside up here lol

[GhostHawk]

DougGuy I agree completely, my wife found one bundle of these and I have been pestering her terribly looking for more.

Nope, not to be found.

As you said, a bundle of these chopped up with some celery and garlic makes an absolutely wonderful base for clam chowder.
I live in Fargo ND, so my chowder comes from a can, and I use cheap artificial crab flakes to add color and flavor and bulk.

I normally start with 3-4 stalks of celery, 1/2 of a tennis ball sized onion, and 2-3 potatoes peeled and cubed, cooked in the liquid the clams come in.

The ones my wife found maybe a month ago were just starting to make bulbs on the end but the main shaft was almost an inch wide.
Where most green onions found around here have stems like a wooden match or at best a shoelace.

[DougGuy]

You can order these from Cowart Farms in Lyons, GA they ship by fedex, in a special box, you get 24 bundles of 3ea onions, enough to last a couple of years because they freeze well and keep a long time in the freezer. These specific onions are a staple in my kitchen being that I have discovered their secret, and I use them year round. They are like bacon grease or hot sauce or salt you know, things EVERY chef has in their kitchen!

I have tried several other varieties of nice sized green onions, because it's hard to get these at times, and they just don't "have it."

[MaryB]

with snow forecast in a week or so I have to pass. Growing season is done here unless I grow indoors. And my indoor space have 4 huge herb plants parked in it

[MT Gianni]

For whatever reasons onions do best when followed the long and short day rules of sunlight. That is why Vidalias fail in the North and Wall Walla sweets fail in the south. Those look great Doug, the pics make me hungry.

[johnson1942]

i live fairly far noth in north western nebraska. i put store bought onions, the big one, in corners in the flower beds for accents and they come back year after year for several years. they spread and look nice next to the flowers. dont see what i couldnt plant onions in the fall here and get some in the early next summer. we can do over winter garlic here. onions and garlic are tuff as are chives.

[1johnlb]

I would love to have some to put in my garden. I'm in N.Carolina so they should grow with no problem.

DOUGUY, I see your in N.C. too, anywhere close to Creedmoor, my hometown.

[johnson1942]

their is a commercial gardener that sells at local markets here in western nebraska. with the extra rain we had this year he grew onions as big as sofballs. i bought two 50 lb sacks from him. i like growing my own produce but at 37 dollars a sack and such high quality he is growing my onions from now on. they are the big yellow winter keepers. we are eating a lot of soups now and this winter. we really love potato and onion soup. we had that last night with ham. my wife took it to work to day to share with all the other staff at the hospital. they love my soups and onions are all ways part of any soup i make.

[MaryB]

I like bacon in my potato soup, lots of onion, and some celery.