Unintentional Walking Onions

So my TOG gardening friend Flo, who is known for her onion sets that she orders each fall, came by my house one time and gave me some “Texas Bunching Onions”. For the last 2 months I have decreased the water these onions receive and I thought that, along with the hot temperatures the onions would quickly dry out. No luck yet. These are some pretty tough onions.

After dead-heading all of the onion tops.

Hoping for some larger bulbs this year.

In the hopes to save seed from our onions last year, both Flo and I simultaneously discovered that these onions do not set seed when they flower. Having uncovered this fact, I decided that this year I would remove any flower heads I found growing on my onion plants. All went according to plan until recently, some of the more determined onions decided to produce little bulblets. Perhaps this is a way for gardeners to save the traits of a great hybrid variety - by forcing the onions to make bulblets by deadheading all but a few of the flowers.

The onions continue to thrive without a steady water source.

An onion with claws?! This plant has the will to live as it produces small bulblets.

The Onion Bulblets are growing!

Alas – the onions that refuse to die. Perhaps if these bulblets grow large enough to sustain themselves then I can plant them out in my summer garden to see what they become. At the same time I am trying to select this variety for a larger lower bulb. I hope a large bulb is a trait I can select for as I divide the onions this next fall. Wish me luck.

 

A strange-looking bulblet forms on the onion stem.