Georgia is famous for sweet onions, and home gardeners can take advantage of the same basic principle behind that success: choose onion varieties matched to Georgia's short winter day length. Variety selection and planting season matter as much as soil and fertilizer.
Onions begin bulbing in response to day length. Short-day cultivars start forming bulbs under the shorter day lengths found in the South, while long-day onions are better suited farther north. This is one reason buying an onion simply because it looks appealing in a catalog can lead to disappointing Georgia bulbs.
Onions are a cool-season crop. Georgia gardeners commonly establish short-day onions in fall or winter for spring harvest, with exact timing varying between North, Middle and South Georgia. Avoid treating onions like a summer transplant crop.
Vidalia is not simply a generic name for every sweet onion grown in Georgia. The commercial name is tied to a legally defined production area and requirements. Home gardeners elsewhere in Georgia can grow excellent sweet short-day onions, but they should not assume that makes the harvest a Vidalia onion.
Onions fit well along bed edges and beside lettuce, carrots, beets and many leafy crops because their upright growth occupies relatively little horizontal space. Keep enough room for bulb expansion. Companion planting can improve bed diversity, but it should not be presented as guaranteed pest control.
Keep soil reasonably moist while roots and leaves develop, but avoid waterlogged beds. Onions have relatively shallow roots and compete poorly with weeds. Excess nitrogen late in the crop can encourage leaves at the expense of timely bulb maturation.
As bulbs mature, tops soften and fall. Harvest during dry weather when possible, handle bulbs gently and cure them in a dry, well-ventilated location out of rain. Sweet onions generally do not store as long as pungent storage types, so match storage expectations to the cultivar.
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Georgia timing note: statewide dates are planning guides. Adjust for North, Middle or South Georgia, local elevation, frost dates and current weather.
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