Like other vegetables, onions are most useful when it is fully ripe. In addition, it will be better kept in winter if you dug it in time. It remains only to find out when to collect onions from the garden. To do this, you can use external features, the lunar calendar and simple mathematical calculations. But first things first.
Terms of harvesting onions
Find out when digging onions, based on external signs, you can, if you watch the garden. When you see that the onions of the onion are drying and turning yellow, the stems are laid on the bed, the neck is dry, it is thin and dry, you can try to pull out the bulb and look at its outer scales. If they rustle and are easily separated - it's time to dig a large onion.
It is important to stop watering the onion two weeks before the proposed collection period. This will allow it to dry slightly, which will positively affect the quality of storage of the vegetable. And to determine when to stop watering, you need to calculate the maturation period of onions.
Mathematically, you need to do this in the following way: by the date of planting add 68-83 days depending on what the summer was like - rainy or sunny. The less the sun, the longer the ripening period. Calculating the approximate date, which will, most likely at the end of July-August, you will know when to stop watering.
Collecting onions by the lunar calendar is calculated individually, because each year the terms will be slightly different. Harvest the crop from the garden during the waning moon in July or early August.
How to collect onions for the winter?
Onions, as a rule, are simply pulled out of the ground. But for the safety of the feathers, which we still need, you can first dig it a little. Do it necessarily in a dry and clear weather, which has been holding for several days in a row.
If you collect the onion in the morning, you can make it up on the bed for drying in the evening, turning it occasionally. The dried onion should be collected in the attic, balcony or any other heat and ventilated room for several days.
After drying, you need to cut off the onions and feathers of the onions, leaving a little on either side, sorting by size and laying in grids or in boxes with holes for ventilation. Store the onions in winter in a dark and dry room at a temperature of + 15 ... 20 ° C. Periodically tore the onions, remove rotten bulbs, do not allow freezing, as this will lead to a loss of taste.