Potato Onions

Beginning last week, we harvested potato onions and spread them out to cure before storing them for Fall and Winter use. Potato onions have been around for a long time and were once commonly grown in our area of East Tennessee. During the 1800s and up until the mid-1900s, most farmers and gardeners were still growing potato onions. There are at least three varieties of the potato onion: red, white and yellow being the most common of the three. These onions get their name from the fact that their growth habit resembles that of potatoes.

When planting one or two “eyes” from a potato, the plant that is produced will yield anywhere from eight to 12 potatoes. When a large potato onion is planted, it will divide into a number of small bulbs (sets). When a small bulb is planted, it will produce a large onion.

In most cases, each clump of onions produces clusters of eight to 12 on average. The potato onion was a great value to people living in times when they depended on every crop that they raised as part of their survival. Beginning in early Spring, these onions were eaten as Spring green onions, and during the early Summer they were used as fresh sliced onions and served with beans and cornbread and other meals.

For Winter use, the potato onions were ideal, owing to the fact they are an excellent keeping variety and will last for the entire Winter with plenty of bulbs left over for replanting.

– John Coykendall, Master Gardener