Do you like onions? I don't - I love them.

One, because they are freaking delicious and two when I was young I used to suffer from asthma and onion helped me get over it. No, I don't smell like an onion nor ever had such a problem. I use alum for a deodorant cause it's all natural and not like the one that promises it wont bring you down and actually do. Alum yes not Allium they're different. The former is a rock mineral you could use on your armpit so you won't smell like the latter Allium no matter how much you sweat.

When I moved to the city and lived with my parents my asthma stopped. My parents let me eat everything the doctor said I'm not allowed to eat. Perhaps that way my immune system got stronger - some people say. Actually, all of those food had onions and garlic. My father cooked mostly with onions so it must have done the trick.

If you read my previous post you must be expecting another gardening quiz post - unfortunately, the Open Notes Gardening Quiz for Flowers That Have Look Alike seem pretty hard. Perhaps I've asked too many tough questions? But then .. I wanted to know who else does gardening here in Steemit.

Can you guess which antioxidant flavonoid is present on onion that helps treat asthma? Yes there is that in onion and an average size onion has 50mg. We only need 20mg so easy on the onion pal. If you happen to know which one it is - please do write down on the comment. Yes, i do, too but hey - let's share some gardening know how on onions.

So as you can see I wrote it up there what this onion's scientific name is would you share what it's common name is? Yes, just as a reply below.

Do you also happen to know what bolting is? That's what caused this onion to flower. It's normal for onions to flower since they are Biennials. Do you happen to know what that means? On their last year, they may flower. An onion sometimes flowers earlier due to stress. They call the process bolting. Bolting could also be observed on lettuce, spinach, cauliflower, kale, chard and carrots.

Do you happen to know what causes bolting on plants? This year, we experienced that so I got to behold these two pompoms like Allium Cepa flowers. One is red as you can see - that's the one from this post. No, they aren't from one plant and if you notice the one on top has a purple pollen holder.

If your onion starts bolting it's better to cut the stem that holds that flower earlier. Put them in a vase with water and they make really beautiful ball like flowers in tall vases. I prefer them uncut so the pollinators could enjoy them. Not to mention that my living room isn't huge enough - it could start smelling like casserole if I have them put on a vase in the center table. The onion's smell could attach to our clothes. We wouldn't want to smell like stinking armpits do we?

However, all of your onion plants flower due to bolting - it's better to cut them, put them in a vase as ornament outside in your garden. Why? If you don't cut those flowers caused by bolting , the tendency is for the onion plant to produce almost no bulbs or a malnourished one. You shouldn't be expecting a huge harvest then. Do the same to other vegetables that are bolting. The flowers tend to use all of the energy of the plant so it hampers it from producing bulbs.

Those bulbs - you would want to eat and replant later. It's pretty easy to grow Allium Cepa - just place them in full sun and they'd not ask for much but regular watering and weeding. They can be planted both in spring and fall. Just stick them in the soil beds in Spring close to the surface of the soil and plant them in rows - arranging the cloves 6 inches apart. In fall, you may want to cover them with plastic that has ventilation to protect them from frost. Yes, the leaves could be eaten. It's mildew that is your enemy when it comes to planting onions aside from bolting.

Anyhow, bolting or not - onion flowers are beautiful to have in the garden the pollinators love them. If you want butterflies, bees, bumble bees, hover flies and all sorts of flying insects that have proboscis to visit your garden stress your onion plant out and watch bolting to take place.

Sometimes, it's also just the soil or too much watering that causes onions and other plants to bolt. Have you ever experienced bolting in some of your vegetables? With which one and when?

I took all of these pictures with my Samsung Galaxy A3 2016 edition.

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Edible Allium Cepa

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