Plant Feature: Walking Onion

 

One of my favorite kitchen garden plants is the Walking onion.  I picked up this beauty at a DC Urban Gardener's Plant Swap.  Edible, of course, it tastes much like a spring onion.  The plant gets a fantastic blooming bulb on the top of the green stalk. It blooms and grows and then fold over and plants itself.  It can walk along this way all the way down the block in a few years.  It's a hardy plant here in the district: I've had luck transplanting it at all times of the year.  I treat it as a perennial, growing it without worry in the ground and in pots leaving them out and uncovered year-round.

Great uses for the plant:
Eating it (obviously): I love growing these instead of spring onoins.
Pickiling:  I haven't tried it yet, but Mr. Bottled loves pickled onions, so we will try pickling the bulbs this year for sure.
Containers: Great for adding some height to cascading hanging baskets.
Barriers: plant in front of your raised beds for a pretty and edible introduction to the rest of the yard.