Growing Scallions: A Complete Profile
By Growing Home Greens Team · July 18, 2026
Scallions are one of the easiest alliums to grow: direct-sown, no bulbing to manage, and forgiving enough to go in the ground before your last frost while other crops are still waiting on warmer soil. They’re also one of the densest plantings you can make in a small bed.
Sowing it two weeks before your last frost
Sow scallions directly about two weeks before your last frost. They tolerate cool soil well and don’t need the head start many transplants require. At 60 days to maturity and 9 plants per square foot, a single square can produce a steady harvest, and cutting the green tops rather than pulling the whole plant lets some varieties regrow for a second round.
Low trouble, except for the beans nearby
Scallions are relatively low-trouble, but like other alliums they inhibit nitrogen-fixing bacteria on the roots of beans and peas, so problems usually trace back to bed placement rather than the plant itself. Overwintered plantings can bolt in spring once they’ve been through a cold spell. Expect that as a natural end point rather than a problem to fix.
Dense enough to fill the narrow gaps
Scallions and carrots are a classic pairing. Onion scent deters carrot rust fly while carrot scent deters onion fly, and scallions interplant well with lettuce thanks to non-competing root depths; see the full companion guide for scallion. At 9 per square foot, scallions are dense enough in the Garden Designer to tuck into narrow gaps around larger, slower crops rather than needing dedicated bed space.
Companion planting guide for Scallion (Green Onion) · Find your planting dates
Typically viable in USDA zones 2-10. Not sure your zone? Look it up by ZIP code.
Mature height: 1-1.5 ft
Method: Direct sow: Direct-sow outside. It doesn't transplant well, or doesn't need the extra time indoors.
When to plant scallion (green onion), by zone
Every zone scallion (green onion) grows in. Pick your zone in the header and it will be highlighted here. Each zone links to its full page.
| Zone | Start indoors | Sow or plant out | Harvest |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2a & 2b | Not usually | May 6–May 13 | Jul 5–Jul 12 |
| 3a & 3b | Not usually | May 16–May 23 | Jul 15–Jul 22 |
| 4a & 4b | Not usually | May 1–May 8 | Jun 30–Jul 7 |
| 5a & 5b | Not usually | Apr 26–May 3 | Jun 25–Jul 2 |
| 6a & 6b | Not usually | Apr 11–Apr 18 | Jun 10–Jun 17 |
| 7a & 7b | Not usually | Mar 27–Apr 3 | May 26–Jun 2 |
| 8a & 8b | Not usually | Mar 11–Mar 18 | May 10–May 17 |
| 9a & 9b | Not usually | Feb 1–Feb 8 | Apr 2–Apr 9 |
| 10a & 10b | Not usually | Jan 16–Jan 23 | Mar 17–Mar 24 |
Harvest dates are about 60 days after the sow or plant-out date.
Zone 2 sows before zone 3 here, which looks wrong and is not. USDA zones rank winter cold, not season length, and zone 2 is mostly interior Alaska, where hard winters come with warm summers. More on what a zone measures.
See exact start-indoors, direct-sow, and harvest dates for your zone →
How many Scallion (Green Onion) plants fit per square foot?
Spacing: 9 per square foot (square-foot-gardening spacing). Mature height: 1-1.5 ft.
Good companions for scallion (green onion)
- Carrot: Same allium/carrot pest-masking effect measured for onion and carrot (Uvah & Coaker 1984): a real, peer-reviewed field study, not folklore. The reverse direction (carrot masking onion from onion fly) wasn't part of that study and is the less-supported half of this pairing.
- Lettuce: Space-efficient interplant with non-competing root depths.
Full companion guide, including what to keep away from scallion (green onion) →
Varieties worth considering
- Evergreen Hardy White: Johnny's Selected Seeds describes this open-pollinated bunching onion as their most winter-hardy scallion variety, with little to no bulbing tendency and the ability to survive winter in well-drained soil, a good pick if you want to leave a planting in the ground into cold weather rather than harvesting it all at once. (source)
- Parade: An open-pollinated type Johnny's describes with bright white shanks and no bulging, at 65 days, bred for uniform upright growth that makes harvesting and cleaning faster. A general-purpose scallion where Evergreen Hardy White's winter survival isn't the priority. (source)
- Feast: Johnny's calls this the most downy-mildew-resistant bunching onion they've found, also at 65 days, and it can be sown spring through late summer for a fall or spring harvest. The pick specifically where mildew, not winter cold, has been the recurring problem. (source)
Why each variety is listed comes from the source shown next to it. We haven't grown these ourselves yet, so treat this as a research-backed starting point, not a personal endorsement. The buy links are separate from those sources: they go to seed suppliers that sell that exact variety, and we may earn a commission on some of them.
Where to buy scallion seeds
High Mowing Organic Seeds (each supplier's scallion seeds)
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See it growing
Search YouTube for "growing scallion (green onion)" videos → (a live search, not a hand-picked video; results vary and aren't vetted by us)
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Growing Scallion (Green Onion): The densest, most forgiving allium in the garden: direct-sown, cut-and-come-again, and one of the few crops that can go in before your last frost.
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