Bunching onion flowers, end of season.

bunching onion flower
Bunching onion flowers.

Growing onions can be tricky in the subtropics, as the standard varieties need a cold period to form bulbs, but here my bunching onions have been a success. They are like green onions (which are usually immature bulbing onions) and I think they are particularly suited to the sort of risotto / stirfry / ratatouille dishes that we tend to make, with their mild flavour. For stews and roasts I still use brown onions.

 

bunching onion flowers
Bunching onion flowers along the bed.

Flowers signal the end of the season.

After growing strongly through the cooler months, my bed of bunching onions began to flower in late November, our early Summer. I was curious what would happen to the plants; often vegetables put so much of their reserves into the flowers and seeds that the plants die or just limp along.

The bunching onion flowers are quite attractive though, and they added to the nectar and pollen supply for my stock of pollinating insects. In the main image you may be able to see one of our native Tetragonula bees having a feed.

bunching onion stems
A winter pull of bunching onions.

After flowering the plants did take a step back. A lot of the leaves died, as did some of the stems. The bed is looking a bit thin, but at least that’s an opportunity to get between the plants for weeding. I wouldn’t pick any stems for cooking just now, but I’m expecting they will come back to picking condition soon, if the coming warm wet weather doesn’t disagree too much with them.