Image by Couleur on Pixabay
I went online to figure out the best way to harvest and store globe onions because I want to free up a bed for some mid-summer plantings in my vegetable garden. I found some really helpful tips which I want to not only remember for myself, but to share with you. These come primarily from two sites – Gardeners Supply and Harvest to Table.
How do you know when your onions are ready to harvest? The telltale sign is when the leaves of your onions start to turn yellow and flop over, about 90 – 110 days after you’ve planted them. This will happen at the neck of the onion. However, not all of your onions will ripen at once, so you must selectively harvest your onions as they are ready.
It is recommended to be gentle with onions when removing them from a bed, as bruised onions are more likely to rot. One tip is to water the soil the day before lifting them out while another tip is to loosen the soil around each onion and carefully pull them out by hand one at a time or with a gardening fork.
It’s also necessary to “cure” the onions if they are to be good for 10-12 months. Here are the steps for this:
- Start the curing process a week before harvest by withholding water and partially severing the roots with a spade, which allows their thick moist necks to dry, preventing rot.
- After lifting the bulbs, let the bulbs dry for a few days on top of the ground. You can cover the bulbs with its foliage to prevent sunburn. You can also spread them out in a shaded, warm, dry and well-ventilated place if the sun is too intense.
Once you have harvested them, they should be carefully spread out in a single layer in a place that is warm, dry and ideally breezy. A garage floor (which is where mine currently are) is a good spot. Again, it is recommend one do this carefully to avoid bruising the globes. As the onions are curing the leaves will gradually whither and the papery skins around the bulbs will tighten. It is only then that you should trim the roots and cut the leaves, to within 1″ of the bulb.
Important: Drying seals the top of the onion and keeps the bulb from forming a seed stalk. We don’t want bulbs to form seed stalks; that will leave them woody and unsuitable for storage and eating.
Once the onions are dried and cured, we can bring the onions indoors and store in mesh bags, an orchard rack or a cardboard box with holes for aeration. I thought this orchard rack was really interesting, from Gardeners Supply. 
How long do globe onions last? If they are properly cured and stored (in a cool, dark place at 35 – 40 degrees), globe onions will last up to a year. I’m thinking a wine cellar would be ideal, but I’ll have to talk my husband into using up that precious space :).
