Salad Onion: White Lisbon
Allium cepa
Approximately 250 seeds per g

These small onions are selected and bred to be harvested young, when the plants are between 15 and 25 cm tall. Some varieties produce small bulbs while most modern varieties rarely bulb and form a slim uniform plant, white at the root end and green at the leaf. Salad onions are also known as spring onions or scallions. They are easy to grow but do take a surprisingly long time, around 12 weeks. Most varieties are Spring sown but there are also winter hardy types.

White Lisbon is a traditional, salad onion which has been loved by British gardeners for many years. It is very quick growing and can be sown in succession from February through to late summer. White Lisbon bulbs much more than modern salad onions and the taste is a little stronger but it is definitely the most popular onion variety sold amongst amateur gardeners today.

• Grow in the allium section of your rotation.
• Sow into well prepared soil directly into the growing site from February until July. Sow in drills 1 cm deep and allow 25 cms between the rows.
• Sow quite thinly to avoid the need to thin out later and keep sowing successionally throughout the season at about three week intervals.

Pests and diseases:

• Although Spring onions can suffer from the same pests and diseases as other onions like white rot, onion fly and onion eelworm as they are less prone as they are in the ground for a shorter amount of time.

• Cut the root off with a sharp knife and trim the tops and outer leaves. Salad onions have a milder flavour than larger types.
• Chop into salads or use whole as crudites, spring onions are also great on the top of a Thai curry and other eastern dishes.
• Onions are high in vitamin A and C and eating raw spring onions is the best way to keep that goodness in tact.