Description of the best varieties of wild (aromatic) onions, their cultivation and care
Fragrant onions are often used in gardening as an ornamental and medicinal plant. The spicy taste and aroma have made aromatic onions one of the most popular spices in the East. The stems of allspice onion are about 1 cm in diameter. It is used not only as a delicious spicy seasoning for dishes, but also for the treatment of many diseases. It is easy to grow a crop on your site, the cultivation technology is no different from the cultivation of others onion varieties and garlic.
Spicy greens - a mix of onions and garlic
Wild onions began to be grown on the site in the east for a long time. In China, Mongolia and Japan, it is grown in all regions and is often used in cooking. One of the names of this plant is Chinese garlic. Under natural conditions, culture grows on rocky slopes, along the banks of mountain rivers and hills. In Asia, Chinese garlic has been used for a long time, and in European countries, it was brought by Chinese nomads.
The plant belongs to perennials. Allspice or Chinese garlic is a low-growing plant with stems reaching 30–35 cm in length. The rhizome is formed horizontally, on which small bulbs are located. The bulbs are composed of film and mesh scales. Each bulb forms a rosette of 5–6 leaves. After winter, the bulb forms several more daughter ones, thus after a year a lush bush of Chinese garlic grows from several bulbs.
In the summer, in the second year after planting, the culture throws out long peduncles, similar to inflorescences-covers. Until the inflorescences begin to bloom, the stems are soft and juicy, suitable for consumption. When the flowers' umbrellas begin to bloom, they exude a rich honey scent that attracts a large number of insects. From here the culture got its name - fragrant onion.
Allspice can be easily confused with other varieties of the crop. But there are a number of features that distinguish it from other varieties:
- The leaves are thin and succulent, but not tubular, but flat.
- Differs in onion-garlic aroma, but not as spicy and pungent as in wild garlic, but rather piquant.
- It is allowed to eat the feathers and arrows of Chinese garlic.
- The main feature is the rich floral aroma of the inflorescences, which no other variety has.
In China, odorous onions or Chinese garlic are used in folk medicine. They are also decorated with main courses and various snacks. The fresh plant has a strong spicy aroma.
Food medicinal and decorative properties
From the photo of a sweet onion, one can understand that it is not only edible and used to prepare various medicines, but also acts as an ornamental plant for decorating flower beds. The fragrant spicy smell of sweet onions attracts bees to the site, therefore, if there are problems with the formation of flowering in crops, a sweet onion is planted near the beds.
The Aprior allspice bulb is planted one at a time, and after 1–2 years a lush green bush grows in that place.
Fragrant onion, or as it is called in Kazakhstan, Jusai, it is difficult to imagine Asian cuisine. Feathers are used to prepare snacks, served with meat, and sauces are made from them. In addition, feathers are dried and used as a spicy and piquant seasoning for various dishes. The arrows taste like wild garlic. They are marinated or fried in a manner similar to garlic arrows. Useful constituents vitamins and trace elements that are part of Jusai help to cope with many diseases.
Folk recipes using wild onions:
- 100 g of fresh feathers are poured with 2 parts of vodka and infused for 14 days. The infusion can rub bruises, bruises and abrasions.
- The inclusion of fresh Chinese garlic in the diet removes toxins from the body, improves immunity and helps to cope with colds.
- Young greens of the plant strengthens the walls of blood vessels, the circulatory system, and the heart muscle.
Greens contain a small amount of fiber, so it is recommended to be used in the diet for people with diseases of the gastrointestinal tract.
The best varieties
Among the variety of varieties of Chinese garlic, it is sometimes difficult to choose. The best varieties for planting on a personal plot:
- Dzhusay onion is a fragrant variety with late ripening of feathers. Pruning can be done until late autumn. The leaves reach 25-30 cm in length. The shade of greenery is light green-gray.
- Aprior allspice onion belongs to varieties with a mid-season ripening period and a full harvest will be able to be harvested in the last days of May. The bush is highly branched, up to 10 leaves are formed on each of the shoots. Aprior contains a large amount of vitamin C.
- Among the names of the best varieties there is Piquant. Refers to salad varieties with high resistance to severe frosts and delicate flavor of greenery, which lasts throughout the summer. Like bear onion, Chinese garlic is rich in vitamins and microelements, so whatever variety grows on the site, it is impossible to overestimate the benefits of its use.
Care and planting technology
It is not difficult to grow branched onions, the technology of growing this crop is no different from growing common onions... In the wild, Chinese garlic grows in meadows, but in the garden it is planted anywhere. It is desirable to choose fertile light soils in open sunny areas. Under the crown of trees and in partial shade, the culture will grow poorly.
Compared to other varieties of onions, Chinese garlic is more thermophilic, so it is advisable to choose such areas so that they are covered with snow in winter.
Plant care includes:
- Regular watering. It is important to ensure that the soil has not been waterlogged. If this happens, the rhizome will begin to rot.
- Dzhusay is undemanding to the composition of the soil, but if the greens are fed before planting, the greens will be more juicy and tender.
- Once a month, you need to remove weeds from the site, and every two weeks the spice beds are weeded.
Jusai is completely undemanding to care for. The main thing is to water it on time and periodically thin out the plantings so that it does not flood the site. For the winter, the greens are cut, and the rhizome is sheltered from frost in the northern regions.
Seed planting
Allspice is planted with seeds.This method is considered one of the simplest. Planting and growing Jusai onions depends on climatic and weather conditions. Before planting, the bed is made in a groove, watered with a small amount of water. Seeds are poured to a depth of 1–1.5 cm. From above, the grooves are covered with humus. At the end of planting, watered abundantly.
Optimal timing of planting planting material:
- Towards winter (if you plant seeds in late autumn, then greens can be eaten in March).
- If you plant seeds in April, then in the year of planting it is better not to touch the spice and let it grow stronger.
- In summer until July 15. Planting during this period will allow you to enjoy the fresh greenery in April.
Before planting in open ground, the seeds are soaked for two days in water with a temperature of 40 degrees. On the third day, the planting material is simply soaked in warm water. Seedlings are thinned out as they germinate. Some of the sprouts are left, the other goes for food.
Reproduction by shoots
From a photo of a sweet onion, you can determine how many years it has been growing in the same place. If the bushes have become too large, then this signals the need to transplant the bulbs to a new place. To have a lot of wild garlic greens, it is necessary to thin out regularly.
In the fall, after flowering, the whole bush is dug up and divided into several parts. The stem must be bare. Each part should contain 2–4 onions. The divided parts are planted at intervals of 20-25 cm.
What to look for when leaving?
Fragrant onions are unpretentious in care, but, nevertheless, some rules of agricultural technology must be observed. If you do not pay attention to the bow, you can see that it has become not so lush, and the feathers are juicy.
Features of the care of bear onions or wild garlic:
- Ramson is a common plant that needs to be watered several times a week.
- In some species, when sown with seeds, the greens are not cut off in the first year after planting.
- Through thinning, they provide access to nutrients to the root system. In autumn, thickets are thinned out so that the distance between them is 8-10 cm. With the onset of spring, they are thinned out so that the interval was up to 29 cm.
- In the first year after planting the planting material, the onions are often not watered so that they can grow deciduous and become juicy.
- From the second year, abundant watering is required several times per season, usually 8–9 waterings.
- The first feeding with organic fertilizers is done after sowing (chicken droppings are used), then after each mass trimming of greens, mineral fertilizers are applied.
