Onion Paris Silverskin Seeds

What is Onion Paris Silverskin like?

Onion Paris Silverskin (Allium cepa) is a dual-purpose onion. Pulled young, it’s a salad onion; left to grow on, it forms small, crisp, silvery-white bulbs that are the right size for pickling. It matures quickly, it’s hardy and it’s generally easy to grow, so it suits a first go at onions from seed as well as anyone who simply wants a few jars of pickles.

When should you sow pickling onions?

Outdoors, sow in March or April once the soil has started to warm, in drills about 1.5cm deep with 30cm between the rows. Sow thinly and cover with fine soil.

For an earlier crop, sow under glass in February or March, three or four seeds to each module, at around 14°C, and cover them lightly with vermiculite or compost. Harden the plants off in a cold frame and plant them out in April as clumps, without splitting them up.

You can carry on sowing small batches into early summer for later pickings. Onion seed doesn’t keep well, so it’s worth sowing it within a year or two.

How far apart should they grow?

Spacing decides how big the bulbs get: the closer the plants, the more onions you get and the smaller each one stays. For pickling-sized bulbs, thin outdoor sowings to about 7cm apart, and plant module clumps 7cm apart too. The thinnings don’t go to waste; use them as salad onions.

How do you look after them?

• Site and soil: A sunny spot with free-draining soil. Onions are shallow-rooted, so dig in plenty of well-rotted compost or manure beforehand, but not fresh manure.
• Weeding: Onions don’t compete well with weeds. Weed little and often, pulling weeds close to the bulbs by hand so you don’t damage them.
• Watering: Water in long dry spells, particularly early on while the roots form, and stop once the bulbs have swollen in midsummer.
• Flower stems: Pull off any that appear, as flowering takes energy away from the bulb. A cold spell in spring can make onions bolt like this.
• Problems: Onion fly, white rot and downy mildew are the ones to watch for.

When are they ready to lift?

Pickling bulbs are usually ready from July to September, which from an April sowing is around 13 weeks, and you can pull young plants as salad onions whenever they’re big enough. When you lift the bulbs, ease them out with a fork so they don’t bruise.

Once peeled, the small bulbs go whole into jars of pickles for summer salads, and they’re just as useful added whole to winter stews and casseroles.

The Grown Local Verdict “Onion Paris Silverskin is a straightforward onion for anyone who’d like to fill a few jars. Keep the plants close together so the bulbs stay small, keep the weeds down, and you’ll usually have salad onions as you thin them and pickling onions from July.”