June 5, 2026, 3:31 pm | Read time: 3 minutes
Onions are considered an easy vegetable for home gardens. The small onion sets often just need to be planted in the soil, and a few months later, the harvest follows. It’s all the more surprising that myHOMEBOOK gardening expert Franka Kruse-Gering chooses not to grow them. In this article, she explains why she deliberately avoids having an onion bed in her own garden and the reasoning behind this decision.
For years, I’ve been growing vegetables in my garden. Tomatoes in all shapes and colors. Also pole beans, pumpkins, and zucchini. The classics, really. But one particular vegetable doesn’t get its own bed in the garden–onions. I just don’t see the point and every time I see onions in someone’s garden, I ask myself: “Why?”
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Why I Don’t Want an Onion Bed in the Garden
I like onions, no question. They go in salads, on my minced meat sandwich, on pizza–basically anywhere a hint of onion flavor fits. I even make cough syrup from onions myself. But I don’t want them in the garden. There’s really only one reason: The yield per plant is too low for me.
The prices for onion sets vary depending on the supplier, variety, and package size. A net usually costs between three and five euros and often contains about 50 small onions, though the quantity can vary. For the space that 50 onions require, I can plant crops that provide harvests over weeks or months. Additionally, onions are available for little money even at the farmers market.
Also interesting: “That’s Why I Chose a Natural Garden”
Onions have a long development time. So I plant onions, water and care for them for several months, and end up harvesting as many onions as I planted. They’re larger than the sets, sure. Still, this ratio of effort, space, and yield doesn’t convince me. I’d rather buy them as needed when I actually need them.
With tomatoes, a seed grows into a plant with at least ten tomatoes, and the same goes for cucumbers. And from a single bean, I can later harvest enough pods for an entire stew. From an economic standpoint, onion cultivation just doesn’t add up for me.
Using My Time and Space Differently
I don’t want to downplay the advantages of growing onions. Better taste, special varieties, and good storage capability are certainly arguments in favor. That’s why a few onions occasionally find their way into my garden bed. But no more than that. For a dedicated onion bed, the time, space, and yield just aren’t in the right balance for me.