Spring Onions

01 About

One of the easiest and most useful crops in the kitchen garden. Spring onions are ready in just 8 weeks from sowing and can be succession-sown throughout the growing season for a constant supply.

02 What to Grow

Spring onions are best grown from seed and are ideal for quick, repeat sowings through the UK growing season. Choose classic white-stemmed types for reliable salad crops, bunching types for upright growth, and red-skinned types for extra colour. Some varieties are better for summer sowing, while hardy types can be used for autumn and overwintering crops in milder areas. Grow several short rows rather than one large sowing to keep harvests steady.

03 Varieties

The number of varieties shown for each crop is based on UK consumption data (2025/26) — the more popular the crop, the more variety choices we include.

🌿 Classic White Spring Onions

White-stemmed types for reliable salad crops. Fast, mild, and ideal for repeat sowing through the season.

White Lisbon

White salad onion · Seed

The classic UK spring onion. Quick-growing with white stems and green tops. Reliable and ideal for succession sowing.

• AGM
• Beginners
• Fast
• Classic

Guardsman

White bunching onion · Seed

A neat, upright variety producing clean, straight stems. Good uniformity and well suited to close spacing in drills.

• AGM
• Upright
• Uniform
• Beginners

Feast

White bunching onion · Seed

A vigorous bunching type with strong growth and good uniformity. Well suited to succession sowing for steady harvests.

• AGM
• Vigorous
• Succession

🔴 Bunching & Coloured Types

Long-stemmed, red-skinned and bunching varieties for extra colour and different kitchen uses.

Ishikura

Japanese bunching onion · Seed

A long-stemmed bunching onion that does not form a bulb. Excellent for stir-fries and Asian cooking. Produces thick, upright stems.

• AGM
• Long stems
• Cooking
• Bunching

North Holland Blood Red

Red spring onion · Seed

A striking red-skinned spring onion with a stronger flavour. Adds colour to salads and mixed harvest bunches.

• Red
• ⭐ Flavour
• Colour

Apache

Red salad onion · Seed

A colourful red spring onion suited to salads, garnishes and mixed sowings. Good colour and reliable growth.

• AGM
• Red stems
• Salads
• Attractive

04 Where to Source

Spring onion seed is widely available by post and from local garden retailers. Choose fresh seed each season for the best germination.

📬 Seeds by Post

Postal seed ordering gives a good choice of white, red and bunching spring onion varieties. Order before the main sowing season so seed is ready for succession sowing.

🏪 Garden Centres

Garden centres usually stock spring onion seed from late winter onwards. Choose fresh packets and check sowing dates for the variety.

05 Planting Options

🌱 Open Ground / Drills

Open ground is ideal for short rows of spring onions. Sow thinly in shallow drills and repeat every few weeks for regular harvests.

Suitable varieties: Best for steady crops, succession sowing and larger kitchen garden beds.

🪴 Container / Windowbox

Containers and windowboxes are excellent for spring onions because they need little depth and can be kept close to the kitchen. Use fresh compost and keep it evenly moist.

Suitable varieties: Best for patios, small gardens, balconies and quick salad harvests.

06 Companion Planting

✅ Grow nearby

• 

  🥕 Carrots

  Spring onions and carrots are classic companions — spring onion scent deters carrot fly while carrot scent deters onion fly. Interplanting alternating rows provides mutual pest protection.

• 

  🥬 Lettuce

  Spring onions and lettuce make excellent bed companions — both are quick-growing, cool-season crops that can be interplanted to make maximum use of limited space.

• 

  🔴 Radish

  Radish can be sown alongside spring onions as a quick catch crop. Both are fast-maturing crops that work well in succession sowing plans and share similar growing conditions.

❌ Keep apart

• 🫘 Beans & Peas — Alliums inhibit the growth of legumes. Keep spring onions away from all bean and pea crops in the rotation.
• 🌿 Sage — Sage is thought to suppress the growth of alliums when planted in close proximity. Keep herb plantings separate from the onion bed.

07 Sowing — How To

Spring onions are usually direct sown where they are to grow. They germinate well in fine, moist soil and are best sown little and often for a steady supply.

1. 

   Prepare the soil

   Choose a sunny or lightly shaded spot and rake the soil to a fine surface. Remove stones and weeds before sowing.

2. 

   Draw shallow drills

   Make shallow drills in short rows. Keep rows close enough for efficient use of space but wide enough to weed between.

3. 

   Sow thinly

   Scatter seed thinly along the drill. Thin sowing reduces crowding and helps produce straight, clean stems.

4. 

   Cover lightly

   Cover with a fine layer of soil or compost and firm gently. Water carefully using a fine rose.

5. 

   Grow on

   Keep the soil evenly moist and weed-free. Thin if seedlings are very crowded.

6. 

   Succession sow

   Sow small batches every few weeks from spring to late summer. Harvest young before stems become coarse.

Regional sowing timing

Region	Sow / plant	Harvest	Notes
Scotland & Far North	Apr–Aug	May–Oct	Start once soil has warmed; use sheltered sites for early sowings · Apr–Aug (direct)
Northern England	Mar–Aug	Apr–Oct	Main outdoor sowing begins as soil becomes workable · Mar–Aug (direct)
Midlands & Wales	Mar–Sep	Apr–Oct	Succession sow for steady crops through summer and early autumn · Mar–Sep (direct)
Ireland & Isle of Man	Mar–Aug	Apr–Oct	Avoid very wet ground and choose free-draining beds or containers · Mar–Aug (direct)
South & SE England	Feb–Sep	Mar–Nov	Early sowings are possible in mild, sheltered gardens · Feb–Sep (direct)
South Coast & SW	Feb–Sep	Mar–Nov	Mild areas can crop over a long season with repeat sowings · Feb–Sep (direct)

08 Soil Requirements

pH

6.0–7.0

Best

Sandy loam, Loam

Tolerates

Clay loam

Avoid

Waterlogged, Compacted

09 Ongoing Care

💧 Watering

Water regularly to maintain even moisture — spring onions need consistent watering to develop straight, tender stems. Dry conditions cause thin, tough, fibrous stems with a harsh flavour. Water gently at the base with a fine rose to avoid washing away the fine seedbed.

✂️ Thinning

Thin spring onions to 2.5cm apart when seedlings are 5cm tall. The thinnings are perfectly edible as micro-onions. Without thinning, overcrowded plants produce very thin, weak stems. Sow in succession every 3 weeks for a continuous supply.

🧅 Harvesting

Harvest spring onions when the stems are pencil-thick and 15–20cm tall, before the bulb develops significantly. Pull from the ground by hand — the root system is very shallow. Harvest from a sowing over 6–8 weeks for the best flavour and texture.

📅 Succession Sowing

The key to a continuous spring onion supply is succession sowing every 3 weeks from March to August. Each sowing provides harvest for a few weeks before becoming too strong. Mark your sowings with dated labels — spring onions from different sowings look identical until harvest time.

10 Watch Out For

🐛 Insects & pests

• 🐌 Slugs & Snails — Silver slime trails on leaves, soil, and pots — often the first sign before damage is found
• 🐜 Aphids (Blackfly & Greenfly) — Curled, distorted, or stunted growing tips — aphids inject saliva that causes leaf curl to protect them

🍄 Diseases to watch

• 🧅 Allium White Rot — Allium white rot (Sclerotium cepivorum) is one of the most persistent and devastating soil-borne diseases in UK gardens. The sclerotia (resting bodies) persist in soil for up to 20 years, and are stimulated to germinate specifically by the scent of growing alliums. Once present, a bed is effectively lost for all allium crops for a generation.
• 🔵 Downy Mildew — Downy mildew is caused by oomycetes (water moulds) and is completely unrelated to powdery mildew despite the similar name. It thrives in cool, wet, humid conditions and is most damaging in spring and autumn. Each host plant has its own specific downy mildew species. Lettuce downy mildew can destroy an entire bed within days in the right conditions.

Full identification and treatment advice is in the Pests and Diseases sections.

11 Storage & Preserving

🥬 Use Fresh

Spring onions are at their best pulled fresh and used soon after harvest. Harvest only what you need for the crispest stems and green tops.

🧊 Fridge

Store freshly pulled spring onions in the fridge for a few days. Keep them lightly wrapped or in a container to stop them drying out.

12 Expert Tips

13 Common Mistakes

14 See Also

• 🌼 Companion Planting
• 🔄 Crop Rotation