Green onions are the best.  I love how they add a similar flavor to traditional onions without the sweat and tears.   They’re just so darn convenient.  I don’t even whip out the cutting board, just a pair of scissors.  I can snip the desired amount into scrambled eggs, bread dough, salads, or homemade pizza without breaking stride in my dinner preparations.  Most grocery stores sell them in little bunches of about six or seven which lately hasn’t been enough to get me from one shopping trip to the next.

So this past week I decided to work some propagation magic and see exactly what I could get out of the six skinny stalks from the grocery store.  When it comes to the culinary, green onions and lettuce have a lot in common. The most delicious and desirable  parts of these two plants  are  the leaves, which makes them a perfect plant for propagation because of their speedy maturity.

Let’s get all botanical for a second.   All  fruits are created by the sexual reproductive parts of the plants {the flowers}.  Once the flower is fertilized the plant’s ovary matures into a fruity structure destined to carry the ovules or seeds.  Then there’s veggies like potatoes and carrots where we’re eating the root of the plant.  With plants like green onions however, we’re eating the leaves of the photosynthetic part of the plant.  With roots still attached, the plant is able to continue to produce leafy deliciousness and there’s no waiting for a flower to develop into a fruit.

The process is simple.  I grabbed some green onions from the produce section of the grocery store and removed any damaged/wilty looking outer leaves.  Unhealthy pieces would decay quickly in water and encourage the growth of smelly bacteria.  For my container I just used a small canning jar.  I wanted something short so that as my onions grew I could snip them down easily, without combating the sides of the container with my scissors.  But really any jar/vase/cup would do.   Make sure to chose something fairly narrow though, so that once the stems are trimmed they can lean up against the sides of the container and wont fall horizontal into the water.

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I snipped my onions about 2 1/2 inches from the base, making sure to leave the little roots intact.  The tops were sliced up and added to a variety of yummy things including pasta salad, paninis, and some fettuccine over the next couple days.

Exactly one week later my onions looked like this:

Remember, the onions will drink the water so checking the water level every few days is important.  I’ve had this batch in my kitchen for about four weeks.  I cut off of them at least every other day but I’m finding that they don’t produce nearly as quick as they used to.  The reason for this is that while they’re receiving plenty of water, they’re not getting supplemented by other nutrients.    Rotating them out for a new batch every six to eight weeks will result in a consistent supply of green onions.