How To Grow Green Onions

Close up of green onions planted in a garden.

We love to garden in our house. Since I cook morning, noon, and night we go through a lot of fresh produce and herbs. One trick I learned a long time ago was ways to replant and get more life out of my green onions. Say what?!? Yes, DO NOT throw the root ends from green onions away. I’m going to show you how to grow green onions at home. You can actually plant the scallion ends, and regenerate a few batches of green onions before they are no longer good.

Take your one dollar investment from the grocery store and watch it multiply saving you a few dollars off your grocery bill.

I am going to show you two ways you can plant green onions; in water and in dirt. Even if you don’t have a green thumb, I promise you can regrow your own green onions!

How to Grow Green Onions from Scraps

First, up you need to cut the ends off of the green onions if you haven’t done so already.

I like to keep a good inch to 2-inches on the ends. This makes it easier to plant.

How to Regrow Green Onions in Water

How to Grow Green Onions — Day 2 in the water.

You can grow scallions indoors. Simply place the scallion/green onion root bottom in water. It is perfectly fine to place multiple green onion roots in one short container/cup. Continue to feed the scallions water, and you will see it will continue to grow. This photo is after just a few days! Once the green onion gets long enough simply trim what you need and it will continue to keep growing! It’s that easy.

How to Regrow Green Onions in Soil

Regrowing green onions in soil is easy. I always plant them with my parsley or other herbs since they don’t take up much space. Fist I till the soil; stirring and loosening soil, and pulling up weeds.

Next up, using the trowel, make a small hole where you want to plant the green onion.

Place the green onion in the soil.

Then pat the soil all around the green onion root to secure it in place.

That’s it! Your onions are planted.

Now, just water the green onions and that’s it. In about a week you’ll have green onions again. Then just cut them and watch them grow again. You can easily get 4-6 batches of onions if you continue to cut them just as they grow long enough like you would get in the store.

How to Store Cut Green Onions

Three images showing how to store fresh green onions.

Cut the green onions from the garden about an inch from the root (if purchased from the store remove the rubber band and any other packaging and cut the root off).
Pat the green onion down using a paper towel and remove any excess moisture.
Cut the green onions in half so they are shorter and easier to store.
Wrap the green onions in a few pieces of paper towels.
Place wrapped green onions in a Ziplock bag and refrigerate. Make sure to label them with the contents (green onions/scallions) and the date!

FAQs

White cutting board with serrated knife with green onion stalks and sliced pieces.

Are green onions and scallions the same thing?

Yes, green onions and scallions are the same thing just different names. However, spring onions are different. The bulb of a spring onion is much larger. Compared to the scallion/green onion that has little to no bulb.

How many times can you regrow green onions?

As long as you keep the green onion roots/bulbs in the water or in the soil you should be able to get 3-5 harvests before you will need to replant.

Can you regrow store bought onions?

Green onions and onions in general are one of the easiest vegetables to regrow from scraps. Simply cut off the root end of the green onion/scallion, leaving about 1-2 inches of onion on the root and plant it in either water or soil. Within days you will start to see new growth and in a little over a week you will have green onions to harvest and cook with!

Tip: Waiting to Replant Green Onions

Here is a handy tip… If I’m cooking at night and have the root ends cut off I’ll stick them in a small glass of water to keep them alive. Then the next day or in this case a few days later I have a free 5 minutes I’ll plant the ends in the soil then.

Gardening Ideas

If you love to garden here are a few more gardening blog post ideas we have.

I hope you found my post useful and your ready to tackle your own project. If you tried this, it would make me so happy if you could take the time to leave a comment, and follow me on Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram. Don’t forget to subscribe to my newsletter, too!