Oh sure, you can buy green onion seeds to plant, but that takes a while. This method is simple, fairly quick, and you are using something you would have just thrown away or composted anyway. Just buy them when you normally would, say for gumbo or red beans, and then plant the leftover bulbs.
First, buy a nice-looking bunch of green onions at the grocery store or your local farmers market.
Second, chop up the green and white parts of the onions, leaving the bulb with the roots attached.
Third, find a small patch of ground - by small, I mean about two square inches per onion - or a pot with soil.
Fourth, plant the bulbs with the roots down (yes, it is necessary to remind some people of this) and the white part up.
Then cover the bulb with soil, leaving just flat white top exposed.
Finally, be patient, and in a couple of months, you will be able to start harvesting green onions from your very own yard.
Once you get in the habit of simply going outside for fresh green onions, it's hard to buy them at the store. (Like I did today, just for this blog.) In fact, it is so ingrained in me now that when I was cooking at my sister's house last year, I didn't bring any green onions and had truly forgotten that not everyone has them growing in their yards. I survived, but it was a good reminder ... and a good excuse to publish this little public service announcement.
