How to Grow Scallions from Seed? A Detailed Guide to Planting Methods and Tips
We all know that as long as conditions at home allow, you can grow your own scallions, and they will definitely taste better than the kind sold in the market, because the ones you grow yourself are scallions that have grown through their natural growth cycle, without any chemical ripening agents. So how do you grow scallions from seed?
1. How to Grow Scallions from Seed
1. Selecting seeds
Scallion seeds are flat and somewhat round little seeds, about the size of a grain of sorghum. If you are using scallion seeds you saved yourself, you should remove any impurities, pick out the more shriveled seeds, and keep the plump, vigorous ones for planting.
2. Preparing the soil and making beds
Scallions like fertile soil with good aeration. Before broadcasting the seeds, level the ground first and make a bed, which will make watering easier later on. Then turn the soil over once to make it soft and porous, which helps the scallions germinate and grow.
3. Sowing
In northern China, scallions can be planted twice a year: in March and April in spring, and in October in autumn. After the ground is prepared, if it has not rained and is rather dry, you need to water first. Three or four days after watering, you can sow. Scallion seeds are fairly small, so you do not need to sow them too deep, about 3cm is enough. Be careful not to sow too sparsely; you can scatter more seeds and then thin them out and eat them as they grow.
4. Watering and fertilizing
After the scallions come up, if they are too dense, you can thin them out. Care during this period includes watering, fertilizing, pest control and weeding. When the scallions have grown to more than a chi in height, if you want them to grow into large scallions, you should transplant them into separate beds.
5. Transplanting and cultivation
Pull up the scallions and transplant them to a more open area, planting them in rows. The spacing between plants is about two or three cun, and the spacing between rows is one and a half to two chi. They should be planted fairly deep, so that the white parts of the large scallions will be longer later and look better too.
If you are growing scallions just to eat, then you do not need to transplant them; you can just pull them from the bed and eat them.