Dozens of people showed up at the Urban Garden Center on O‘ahu to pick up a new variety of green onion that can propagate without seeds.
On Wednesday, the University of Hawaiʻi’s College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resilience unveiled the new green onion variety and allowed attendees to harvest the plants.
Officials said the green onion variety is especially friendly for backyard gardeners, as it can be propagated via “division,” in which individual plants can be broken and replanted as new and separate plants.
“ It's very easy to propagate and well-suited for home gardeners. … It won't make seed, but you just divide it. As it grows, you divide it, you can keep planting it. So we're just having a field day for community groups, growers, farmers to come learn about the green onion, learn how to grow it at their homes, and then go away with cuttings that you can plant at a later time,” said Joshua Silva, an extension agent with CTAHR.
Those in attendance at the garden center included families who wanted the more easily grown variety of green onions.
Kōkua Kalihi Valley dietitian Sheryl Yoshimura picked up green onions at the event for her patients. Yoshimura said many of them live in public housing and want access to homegrown food but don't have access to a yard or space to plant them.
“These onions are really good because they can put them on their windowsill… by the sink, and then you can water it, it will grow,” she said. “I got a lot because we have a diabetes group visit, and one of our activities is going to be learning about onions and how to grow them.”
Events like Wednesday's are meant to improve food resilience in the state. Silva said UH is trying to produce other crops that can also be distributed into the community, like ʻulu and sweet potato.
More information about similar events on the island can be found on CTAHR Oʻahu's Instagram page or on the Oʻahu Master Gardeners program’s website.
