antsinmypants said: I've never had any good results planting onion sets. They've never gotten any bigger than when I planted them & so what's the point in that 
I figure if I sow the seeds indoors to transplant I'd just essentially be planting onion sets again 
I really don't know what I'm doing! I know I have a lot of onion seeds to sow & I know they are the right type for this area & that's about it
There are two problems that new onion growers encounter.
1. Planting too deep. An onion will not bulb much if thr shoulders of the bulb are cover. They grow on top of ground. only the bottom half of the bulbs should be covered. With sets only the bottom half of the set should be the ground. Transplants just barely in the ground.
2. Not enough N. An onion is actually a leafy green vegetable. They have a very high nutrient requirement to size up.
Learn by experimenting. Onions are biennials, once they go dormant and are replanted, they want to make seeds. Many varieties of onion have multiple centers. When replanted as a dormant each center will become a plant, which in most cases will bolt. Make great early green onions tho. I set all my sprouted onions in ground and harvest them as green onions.
It is important to pay attention to the type of onion grown in your zone. Onions are triggered to bulb by day length. Long day onions require a daylength for 16-18 hours. You have to have healthy growing plants by the summer solstice. Short day onions are triggered by 10-12 daylight hours. Need to have established growing plants by spring equinox. Intermediate day onions split the difference.
Starting from seed is not difficult, but you do need a good planting bed. Direct seeding is very difficult. Even with precision planters it is extremely difficult to get proper spacing. Germination is variable, you can get thick patches and blank spaces
