Planting guide

When to plant spring onion

Slim, mild onions that crop in six to eight weeks and suit tiny pots. In Melbourne it goes in All year.

Start as: Seed, sown in place or Seedling
Ready in: 7–10 wks
Spacing: 5 cm
Depth: 0.5 cm
Sun: Half a day (3–6 hours)
Water: Regular
Effort: Easy
Frost-tender: No

When it goes in

● means spring onion can go in that month, ○ means wait. Worked out from each town's climate zone and season, the way planting guides do it. Pick your town for the full list for that month.

Australian towns and cities
Town	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Sydney	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Melbourne	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Brisbane	○	○	●	●	●	○	●	●	●	●	○	○
Perth	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Adelaide	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Gold Coast	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Newcastle	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Sunshine Coast	○	○	●	●	●	○	●	●	●	●	○	○
Canberra	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	●	●	●	●	●
Central Coast	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Geelong	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Wollongong	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Hobart	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	●	●	●	●	●
Townsville	○	○	●	●	●	○	●	●	●	●	○	○
Cairns	○	○	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	○
Toowoomba	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Darwin	○	○	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	○
Ballarat	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	●	●	●	●	●
Mandurah	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Bendigo	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Launceston	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	●	●	●	●	●
Mackay	○	○	●	●	●	○	●	●	●	●	○	○
Rockhampton	○	○	●	●	●	○	●	●	●	●	○	○
Coffs Harbour	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Blue Mountains	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	●	●	●	●	●
Bunbury	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Bundaberg	○	○	●	●	●	○	●	●	●	●	○	○
Alice Springs	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Mildura	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Port Macquarie	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●

Around the world
Town	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Auckland	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Wellington	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Christchurch	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	●	●	●	●	●
London	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	○
Manchester	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	○
Edinburgh	○	○	●	●	●	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Dublin	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	○
New York City	○	○	●	●	●	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Los Angeles	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Chicago	○	○	●	●	●	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Seattle	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	○
Austin	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Toronto	○	○	●	●	●	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Vancouver	○	○	●	●	●	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Cape Town	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Johannesburg	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Singapore	●	●	●	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●
Mumbai	●	●	●	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●
Paris	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	○
Berlin	○	○	●	●	●	○	○	○	○	○	○	○

How to plant spring onion

Sow seed 1 cm deep in a pot or bed.
Keep moist until seedlings appear.
Thin to 3 cm.
Pull when pencil thick; sow again monthly.

Spring Onion varieties

Classic varieties are the reliable, widely grown ones. Adventurous ones are heirlooms, odd colours and rarities.

White Lisbon Classicfast · heirloom · 7–10 wksClassic spring onion; quick and mild
Evergreen Hardy White Classiccold-hardy · heavy-cropper · 9–11 wksPerennial bunching onion; reliable year round
Red Baron Adventurouscolourful · 9–11 wksRed-stemmed spring onion with a sweet bite
Ishikura Adventurouscold-hardy · mild · 9–11 wksNon-bulbing Japanese bunching onion
Nebuka Adventurouscold-hardy · 10–13 wksLong white shafts, great for stir-fries

Where to buy seeds

Search on Seeds of Plenty Search on Happy Valley Seeds Search on The Diggers Club Search on Amazon

Shop links may earn us a commission. It never changes what we recommend.

Shops shown are for Australia. The chooser picks shops for your country.

Good companions

Carrot, Lettuce, Strawberry

Spring Onion by month

Jan · Feb · Mar · Apr · May · Jun · Jul · Aug · Sep · Oct · Nov · Dec

More to plant

Onion · Garlic · Leek · Shallot

Not sure spring onion is right for your space? Answer a few taps and see everything that can go in this week.

Find what else you can plant now