Grow Bare Root Specialty Onions – 8 New Varieties for 2025
For the first time ever, 8 different varieties of unique and delicious onion bundles have arrived at Sky from Territorial Seed Co.! For many years now we have been a proud retailer of Willamette Valley based Territorial Seeds as part of our yearly PNW seed selection, so when the chance came to try some of their onion sets, we jumped! All of their onions come with USDA Organic certification from the CCOF, and the bundles are a great way to save if you know you want to grow a whole bushel. Read on below for the complete variety list, plus onion-growing basics to help you chose a great variety for you and your garden.
How Do I Grow Onions?
Onions like to grow in rich, moist, but well-draining soil that’s been amended with compost or other organic matter. Plant them about 6” apart, but be aware that planting distance will vary depending on the variety.
When planting, apply a high-nitrogen fertilizer like blood meal. For large, succulent bulbs, reapply every 3-4 weeks or so around the base of the bulb. Also, make sure to keep your onion patch well-weeded; this helps prevent overcrowding and competition for nutrients.
Short, Intermediate or Long Day Onions
Each of the varieties below specify a 'day length, which is an onion's way of telling you how many hours of daylight it needs to form nice fat bulbs!
Short Day - require 10-12 hours
Intermediate Day - require 12-14 hours
Long Day - requires 14-16 hours
Because we live so far above the equator here in Puget Sound, during the spring and summer, our days get much longer. This means that Long Day onions will grow best here!
This also means that Sky Nursery doesn't offer any short day onions because if you were to grow a short-day onion in the northwest, the bulbs would start to mature much too early, long before the leaves on top have finished growing, resulting in small onions with few layers.
Should I Get Seeds, Sets, or Starts?
Here at Sky, we sell onions in 3 different forms: seeds, sets, and starts (both potted and bare root).
Onion Seeds - can be started indoors nice and early, around mid-February, to be planted outside in mid-March. They offer a lot more variety and are generally cheaper, but require more planning to grow in our short season.
Onion Sets - are immature bulbs grown from seed the previous year and forced into dormancy. Once you plant them, they’ll continue to grow into a full-sized onion! Sets are much more widely available and are generally considered easier to grow in climates with shorter seasons (like ours), but they offer more limited varieties. Onion sets will oftentimes only come in yellow, red, and white, and not any specific varieties that fall within that category.
Onion Starts - (like the ones we've received from Territorial) can offer the best of both worlds! They are onion seeds that have been started early this season, ready to be replanted in your garden and continue growing right away! Starts also offer more varieties to choose from, so you can be pickier and choose ones will best fit your garden or tastes!
How & When to Harvest Onions
The best part about growing any vegetable is of course the harvest, and the magic of onions is that they will tell you when it’s time! Their tops will go brown and start to fall over, which is a great indicator that your onions under the soil have stopped growing!
Try to gently cut them out of the soil to avoid damaging the stems or bruising the bulbs (this can lead to rot later down the line). After they’ve been freed from your garden bed, gently brush off the dirt (do not wash them). From there, you can lay them out on a clean, dry surface in a well-ventilated area, like your garage or a shed.
The onions can then be left to cure for about 2-3 weeks, or until the tops are completely dried out, and the outer layers of the onions are slightly crisp, just like you'd see at the supermarket! After that, your onions can be stored for the length of time specified by their variety.
Photo Credits: Territorial Seed Co
Ailsa Craig Onion
Long Day, 105 days to maturity. A familiar face to Sky’s vegetable growers! Ailsa Craig onions are an heirloom variety hailing from Scotland,
originally developed by David Murray in 1887 for the Marquess of Ailsa. A sweet Spanish type onion (for the uninitiated, Spanish onions are just a variety of yellow onion with a milder flavor). Doesn’t store long, like many Spanish types, so be sure to eat soon!
Blush Onion
Long Day, 110 days to maturity. A lovely pink champagne color, this beauty is a cross between a red and a yellow onion! The delicate pink interior and its sweet taste are great for eating fresh, and its thick skin makes for an excellent storage onion to have on hand for a rainy day!
Borrettana Cipollini
Long Day, 85 days to maturity. An adorable, mini yellow storage onion. Sometimes called “Summer Mini Onions”, they originate from
Boretto, Italy. Plant these starts 2” apart for small, bite-sized onions that will caramelize beautifully when cooked. You can also plant them further apart for larger, still flat onions.
Candy Onion
Intermediate Day, 90 days to maturity. An early variety with a strong root system and great disease resistance, Candy Onions are an excellent hybrid between a standard yellow and a sweet onion, making it extremely versatile with thick rings! Can be grown almost anywhere, but be sure to plant early to ensure large bulbs!
Red Candy Apple Onion
Intermediate Day, 95 Days to maturity. The glossy, bright red exterior of this onion will have you second guessing whether you’re harvesting onions or rubies! The milder taste is great for fresh eating, and while usually small, these onions can grow quite large in Long Day areas given enough nitrogen.
Redwing Onion
Long Day, 110 days to maturity. The ultimate red storage onion! A favored Long Day variety for commercial growers in Northern states, you get classic red onion taste! This variety also boasts a high resistance to bolting and foliar diseases!
Ringmaster
Long Day, 105 days to maturity. An improved white sweet Spanish onion, with fantastic storage ability! Ringmaster onions can keep for 4-5 months, retaining their mild, sweet flavor throughout the season! With super thick, crisp rings, and a single center, you won’t find a more perfect variety for onion rings! Pink root and foliar disease resistant.
Superstar
Intermediate Day, 90 days to maturity. Like the name suggests, this onion is a shining star of the garden world! Still standing as the only All-American Selections winner in the onions category, this variety features shiny white skins
and thick rings! Plant early for heavy, softball-sized bulbs! Best eaten soon after harvest, and resistant to pink root.
Our specialty Territorial Seed onion bundles will be available while supplies last, with more early-spring deliveries in future years. Find them in the Sky Greenhouse, alongside our wide variety of cool season veggie starts, from arugula and romaine lettuce to swiss chard and beyond; we’ll have everything you need to get your vegetable garden set up for Spring!
Keep an eye out for our other bare root edible offerings this season; we’ll have our regular Walla Walla onion bundles as well as asparagus, rhubarb, and strawberries! If you haven’t already, sign up for our email lists here to be notified when each new item arrives.