What are wild onions and how to grow them?

Now gardeners and not only grow about 130 different types of wild onions. Some of its varieties are used for decorative purposes, others are used for food, and a large part is considered medicinal plants. The flowers of some specimens are even used in floristry, they are used to decorate rooms. The article will talk about what are the features of wild onions, how they differ from ordinary onions, as well as many other nuances of this topic.

Wild onion is a perennial herbaceous crop belonging to the onion family. It has a small narrow conical bulb, turning into a rhizome, covered with a matte film. On average, the stem can grow up to 50 cm in height. The onion has several leaves - usually 5 or 6. In most varieties, the leaves are narrow, closely spaced, up to 4 mm wide, straight. The inflorescence, often in the form of an umbrella, is multicolored.

This plant (wild onion) is mainly grown for decorative purposes.... However, now some summer residents (albeit in small numbers) grow crops for subsequent consumption. Most of the varieties bloom beautifully, which can be seen in early spring, when the rest of the plants have not yet woken up and have not gained strength. Wild onions bloom actively around the end of May. Before flowering, the leaves of the plant are emerald green, during flowering they lose their color and begin to turn yellow. During the summer, the leaves will turn yellow more and more and the flowers will form into bulbs.

In total, there are about 900 varieties of onions, and a large proportion of this number are wild varieties. Wild onions are often called wild garlic or jusai. This is not entirely true. These appellations are only varieties of wild onions. Listed below are just some of the more well-known varieties most commonly eaten or used as medicinal plants.

One of the rarest onion varieties. It grows mainly in the area of ​​the Pskem River (in the north of Uzbekistan). It is this wild onion that is considered the progenitor of other onion varieties. Now it is on the verge of extinction.

It is also called mouse garlic. It got its name from the angular shape of the seeds and stem. It grows on flooded and floodplain meadows, as well as on sandy river banks. Most of all, this meadow onion prefers to grow in Belarus (in the Pripyat River basin), but it can also be found in Europe, Siberia and the mountains of Central Asia. Plant height - 20-50 cm, flowers in the form of bells of pink or slightly pinkish color.

They call it differently stone onions and wild batun. The plant is listed in the Red Book. Likes to grow on rocks, stony slopes, rubble talus. It tolerates drought and frost well. It grows mainly in Asia and Russia. Can grow up to 70 cm in length, umbrella-shaped flowers are yellow. It is eaten as often as onions.

Prefers mountainous regions of Central Asia.Most of all it looks like onions. It can grow up to 30 cm, the leaves are tubular. The flowers are white-green, in the form of umbrellas. It tolerates heat, cold and drought well, likes a lot of light. Contains essential oils, mineral salts and vitamin C. Typically used in cooking for pickling.

The victorious or victorious bow grows wild in Central and Southern Europe, China, Canada, the Himalayas, Japan, Mongolia and even Alaska. They are mistakenly called wild garlic. The correct name is Siberian wild garlic. Loves moist soils of deciduous and coniferous forests... This forest onion is included in the Red Book of some countries (but not Russia). Differs in early flowering, blooms almost immediately after the snow melts. Flowers in the form of a green umbrella, grows up to 70 cm in length.

One of the most popular and widespread onion varieties in the domestic territory. It is also called bear garlic and wild garlic. Only young leaves of this variety are eaten. Leaves with a taste of garlic, triangular in shape, wide, similar to the leaves of a lily of the valley. Young leaves have a more delicate garlic taste than ordinary leaves. Therefore, they are often eaten.

It is also called chives and chives. It looks like a small bush with thin stems. It has thin peduncles and an inflorescence in the form of a sphere. Most often used for decorative purposes. In the wild, it grows in river valleys or foothill areas. It grows up to 60 cm, the flowers are very beautiful - purple, in the form of pompons. The leaves are pleasant to the taste, with a pronounced onion flavor.

Obviously prefers stony soils. It also grows in steppes and on sandy soils. Generally similar to the previous cultivar, but with a thinner stem. The flowers are the same color, but less beautiful and noticeable.

It usually grows near mountains or hills, as well as in the immediate vicinity of oak forests and forests. Quite widespread, it is the dominant of the grass cover in the foothill forests.

Prefers sandy deserts. They are also called desert onions. It grows up to 60 cm in length. Stems are hollow, elongated and slightly wide. Flowers in the form of a hemisphere, yellow-green.

It is best to plant wild onions in sunny areas. The more light the plant receives, the more saturated the color of leaves and flowers becomes.... It is noticed that the wild bow, being in the shade, quickly dies. This applies to the neighborhood both with trees and bushes, and with various kinds of awnings. Wild onion tolerates well adjacent to other low-growing plants. Especially often it is planted next to flowers - poppies, peonies, irises.

Tall species are best planted at the back of the plot, while short ones are best planted at the front. This is especially true for decorative varieties. If the variety is late flowering, then planting should be carried out between April and May. The main condition is to reach +10 degrees. Early flowering onions are best planted in the fall. This is due to the fact that after planting, the plant spends all its energy on rooting. Thus, by the spring this process will already be completed, and wild onions will begin to bloom without spending much effort.

The depth of the planting hole should not be too deep or too deep. It should be approximately equal to two diameters of the planted bulb. The optimal distance between plants is 50 cm.However, you can see that the owners of the plots plant the plants much closer to each other. This is best avoided. In addition, the rhizome of the culture tends to grow.

In general, planting in the Moscow region is no different from the usual planting or planting in warm regions. An exception may be a year with an abnormally cold winter. In this case, the spring planting will need to be done a little later. A newly planted plant will need to be covered for the winter to keep it from dying.

In the Urals, onions are planted in autumn, usually in September. It is in this region that the culture must be covered in the winter. It is impossible to plant ordinary and heat-loving varieties in these regions, only resistant to cold. Not all varieties can grow in Siberia, and to increase the likelihood of survival, plants are planted in late spring.

Caring for a crop is not difficult, but it requires certain actions to be performed during each season (except for the winter).

1. Spring leaving. All spring care manipulations begin around the second half of April. During this period, the snow had already melted, and the onion leaves had already begun to break through from the ground. Even in the fall, the onions need to be covered with twigs so that moisture is retained in the place of growth. In the spring, all these branches are removed. This must be done carefully, since in the process it is easy to damage the onion leaves already breaking out of the ground. Next, the plant needs to be lightly fed. Peat is introduced first, and then ash. It must also be remembered that you cannot dig deep into the ground, since the roots of the decorative onion are too close to the surface and they are easily damaged. The result of the introduction of peat can be seen relatively quickly - in a week the onion will grow wildly.
2. Plant care in the summer. In the summer, you need to remove the weeds around the onions from time to time, weed the soil around the plant before watering it.
3. In the fall, the plant begins to prepare for winter and no longer requires good and regular watering. Supportive irrigation will be sufficient. In the fall, you also need to loosen the soil and apply potash fertilizers in liquid form. It is not necessary to cover the culture for the winter.

In general, the culture is unpretentious. The main care factor is watering. After watering, withered onions come to life almost instantly. Do not water the plant too abundantly, as this can lead to rotting of the bulbs. The transplant should be done every 4 or 5 years. It is best to plant wild onions in neutral soil.

Just like other plants, wild onions attack various diseases. Often the culture suffers from the onion fly (root mite). For prophylaxis, the bulbs are warmed up before planting. Another method of dealing with the scourge is ash or tobacco dust, which is sprinkled on the ground around the plant. Helps in pest control and dichlorvos treatment. Wild onion also often suffers from fungus, particularly downy mildew. The plant begins to wilt, the leaves are covered with a purple bloom. Fighting the fungus can be simple and effective - you need to treat it with a fungicide and Bordeaux liquid.

Wild onions are easiest to propagate with seed-derived bulbs.... To do this, you need to plant the seeds in the ground, and wait for one year. During this period, the seeds are transformed into small onions. Plant the seeds in such a way that the bulbs can be harvested in the spring. The bulbs must have roots and a stem. The planting itself is best done in the fall, in October. The bulbs should overwinter, and in the spring they will give the first shoots. Reproduction of a culture in this way will take a long time. In addition, the onion will bloom only after 4 or 5 years.Not all varieties can be propagated by seed.

Another way to reproduce is division of the rhizome. You can propagate the plant only after the age of three. It is after this period that secondary roots begin to form at the main root, which can be carefully separated from the mother and planted separately. Only bush types of onions can be propagated by this method.

And also worth noting bulbs propagation (small bulbs that form on the peduncle). Bulbules are planted in the soil in the fall, and in the spring they sprout.

The most common method is growing from bulbs (first option). However, onions are often purchased and much less often - they are prepared by the gardeners themselves. If you act on your own, then immediately after digging it up, dry it thoroughly in the sun, and then keep it for 12 hours at a temperature of about 40 degrees.

In conclusion, it should be noted that wild onions have pronounced medicinal properties. Its regular use increases immunity, and a diet that includes this culture is prescribed for tuberculosis and a number of other serious diseases.