Planting Egyptian Walking Onion
Egyptian Walking Onion is a cool season vegetable in the Amaryllidaceae family. Getting the timing right is the difference between a strong stand and a disappointing one, so the windows below are given relative to your own last spring frost and first fall frost rather than a generic calendar date. Look up your local frost dates and count back or forward from there.
Transplant young plants outdoors 4–6 weeks before your last frost — Egyptian Walking Onion tolerates cool conditions and benefits from an early start.
For a fall crop, sow 6–8 weeks before your first fall frost so plants mature as the weather cools.
Spacing and Planting Depth
Give Egyptian Walking Onion room to mature. The figures below come from verified extension and seed-supplier data for typical varieties.
| Spacing in row | 6 inches |
|---|---|
| Row spacing | 12 inches |
| Plants per sq ft | 2 |
| Planting depth | 1 inches |
| Sun requirement | Full sun |
Days to Maturity
Egyptian Walking Onion reaches maturity in 90–120 days from sowing.
Egyptian Walking Onion is ready to harvest after about 105 days. Harvest before summer heat or, for fall crops, before a hard freeze, to keep quality high.
Conditions and Care
As a cool-season vegetable, Egyptian Walking Onion does its best growing in the cooler weather of spring and fall and tends to bolt or turn bitter in summer heat. It is frost hardy and can shrug off light freezes, so it can stay in the ground later into the season than tender crops.
Egyptian Walking Onion needs full sun — give it at least six hours of direct light a day for the best growth and flavor. Sow seed about 1 inch deep, then keep the soil evenly moist until seedlings establish.
Egyptian Walking Onion belongs to the Amaryllidaceae family; rotating where you grow members of this family each year helps limit the build-up of soil-borne pests and disease. Egyptian Walking Onion is generally grown as a single planting each season rather than succession sown.
Companion Plants
Pairing Egyptian Walking Onion with the right neighbors can improve growth and deter pests; a few combinations are best avoided.
Grows well with: Carrots, Beets, Tomato
Keep away from: Shelling Peas, Green Beans (Bush)
Growing Notes
Perennial; forms top-set bulbils that replant themselves.