Onion, Lilia Purple Spring Onion Vegetable Seeds

Onion, Lilia Purple  is a dual purpose reliable spring onion with rich-green leaves and flavoursome bulbs, perfect in salads and sandwiches. Use thinning as salad onions, leaving some to mature into bulbs that store well.

'Lilia' _ 'Lilia' is a perennial grown as an edible vegetable with hollow green leaves and torpeedo-shaped purple onions that can be harvested in summer until autumn. A dual purpose Italian variety with a pungent flavour.

Allium fistulosum 'Lilia'

Other names: Salad onion 'Lilia', Spring onion 'Lilia'

Sowing: February - September.
Early Sowing/Module Sowing

Onions grow well in clumps and will not need to be thinned. Sow 7 - 8 seeds per 4 cm module 1cm (½") deep. As soon as germination starts reduce the heat and move to an area with good daylight exposure. Keep the compost moist but do not overwater. After 3-6 weeks harden off over a few days before planting out, plant out at the distance 6 - 10 cm (3”-6”).

Direct Sow 1-2 seeds every 1cm (½") at the depth and row distance suggested above. Lightly cover the seeds with fine soil and water well. When the seedlings are big enough to handle thin to 1-1.5cm apart keeping the strongest seedlings.

Harvesting: May - October.

This variety can be harvested as salad onions use as needed or leave to form a mature bulb. When the remaining bulbs mature in late July/August the foliage will start to turn yellow and will fall over. On a dry day, carefully lift the bulbs up with a fork, once lifted bend the necks of each onion bulb back hard.  They will be dry enough to store when the skins and stems of the onions are dry and crisp to the touch.