Onion, Buan (Organic)
Allium cepa. Yellow Storage. 100 days. Long Day.
A semi-flat yellow onion from Ireland with remarkably good flavor. So tasty it even impressed our good friend Elanor, a market grower turned seed grower with decades of experience growing (and storing and eating!) many varieties of onions. Buan is one of the longest storing onions we offer, lasting well through winter and into spring. Grows fairly large – up to 4.5” across. This treasure of Ireland’s agricultural heritage is also a gene bank success story: Bred by Barnie Crombie in Ireland in the 1980s, it was thought to be lost. The Irish Seed Savers Association (ISSA) was able to obtain some seed from the Vavilov Institute in Russia in 1997 and rematriated it, and Buan can now be found from several sources. According to ISSA, “Buan the is Irish for ‘enduring’, so named to highlight its great storage life, but now an even better suited name as it’s the onion that the Irish just won’t forget.”
Seed produced by Persephone Farm in Lebanon, Oregon.
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For bulb onions, sow indoors in flats with good potting soil February through March. Transplant into the garden in April or May, when plants are at least the size of a No. 2 pencil lead. Space 6” in rows that are 1’ apart. Onions benefit from frequent watering and shallow cultivation. Stop irrigating in August. Harvest when stem has shriveled and tipped over.
Seed Saving
To save seed, replant at least 20 onions (to avoid inbreeding) in the second spring. Large, beautiful globe shaped flowers attract pollinators. Cut whole seed heads when they open and show the black seeds. Thresh gently and winnow to remove debris and hollow seeds. Isolate from other Alliums of the same species by at least ½ mile.
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