Growing your own onions should be easy for any homeowner who is fed up with perennially buying them in the market.
Onions can be grown in a wide range of climatic conditions. However, good bulb formation requires temperatures from 15.50c with an optimum temperature of 21-270c.
Joseph Bukenya, a resident of Kabwomero in Luwero district, says onions are light germinators that need light loamy-sandy soils for good drainage.
According to Bukenya you can either plant bulbs or onion seeds. If you use bulbs, cut off the leaves and bury the bulb in light soil, but if it is seeds, bury them too and add a light layer of soil and then mulch. This will prevent the rains from washing them away.
He also says that they should be grown 20cm to 30cm apart.
If grown in a container or pot, he says make sure it is at least 30cm deep to allow the water to run down, away from the onion fibrous root system that is uncomfortable in a waterlogged environment.
Since they take four to eight months to grow, Bukenya says homeowners can harvest the older leaves for use while they let the newer roots continue making food for the bulb.
He says they hardly need a pesticide because they naturally repel pests with their scent.
