Planting Perennial Onions and Onion Sets. 2.22.19

 Over the past week, I perused the "vegetable start" sections at a few local stores.  I brought home some starts for onions, shallots, and multiplier onions.  

Yellow Moon Shallots - from Fred Meyer, but looking up information these are also sold by Fedco, who state:  "also called Multiplier Onions, these beefy yellow bulbs feature the unique flavor of the shallot sisterhood... home gardeners love this allium that stores through to the next Jul".  These were kind of costly, and of the 7 or 8 sets per package, a few were wrinkled and dry, and a couple were moldy.  I had 2 packages, and wound up with a dozen viable-looking sets.   Still, I'm curious about trying to grow shallots again, so I planted them.  In the past, I started some shallots from the grocery store.  I may do that to, for comparison.

"Windmill" brand red onion sets.  These don't state what cultivar.  At the least, they should be good for scallions.  I bought them at BiMart. The sets look plump and healthy.  These are sourced in Canada.

Multiplier Onion Package.  2.22.19

"Windmill" brand multiplier onions.  Are these shallots?  Or potato onions?  I don't know.  They are sourced in Canada.  I decided to give them a try.  The sets look healthy and plump.  Much more so thatn the Yellow Moon shallots.  These are also from BiMart.

It seems like an odd time of year to be planting but I did anyway.  I have to do what I can, when I can.  I think these will be hardy to whatever remaining, probably mild, winter conditions that we have.  Some multiplier onions can be planted in fall, so maybe these will do OK.

Of course, there are still those onion seedlings that I'm growing in the window sill.  We eat a lot of onions and scallions.  They will not go to waste.

Red Onion Sets.  2.22.19

Last year, my biggest challenge for onions was deer and rabbits.  These are in a fenced area.  I hope that is adequate.  Slugs can also be an issue.  I will start slug bait as soon as growth emerges.

Multiplier Onions Sets in Package.  2.22.19

Red Onions Sets in package.  2.22.19

Yellow Moon Shallot Sets.  2.22.19

Multiplier Onions as placed in rows, ready to be covered in soil.  2.22.19

The onion bed, planted, ready to grow.  2.22.19

Kitchen Garden. Summer Harvest Begins. 7.13.17

 I've been harvesting collar greens for a couple of weeks.  Nicest plants that I have grown. 

Started digging potatoes last week.  Had some hash browns and likely potato salad tomorrow.  Red Norland and Yukon Gold plants are turning brown, and getting some nice potatoes.

Some of the slicer onions are bending over.  I've dug some of those for use fairly quickly.  Tasty in all colors, red, white, yellow.

The absolute largest of the onions are the Ailsa Craig, that I started from seeds.  Those are huge, but not falling over yet.

 Based on my results this year, planting as early as possible is giving the largest onions, but even the later ones are sizing up.  Just not as huge.  Seedlings started indoors are as big or bigger than those started from sets or plants bought at the nursery.

Nice time of year in the kitchen garden.

Kitchen Garden. Planting Onions Outdoors. 3.8.17

This is a progress report and the start of a garden experiment at the same time.  As for the progress report, the onion seeds that I planted earlier have had mixed success.  A few days ago I set out the first batch of Ailsa Craig.  The white globe and red globe seedlings had poor germination and died quickly, leaving few survivors.   The Patterson hybrids for long term keeping actually had good germination and are looking good, but I think they are not yet sturdy enough for outdoor life.

I wasn't confident about the seedlings that I started, and the sets looked crummy, so when I was at a nursery this week, I bought a bundle of plants.  They were cheap, it won't break the bank.  However, I did not initially want to go that route.

Here is the experiment.  In the same garden bed, I have a row of sets, a row of plants that I grew from seeds, and 2 rows of plants that were bought as plants.  It's not a real science experiment because they are not the same variety, but then I'm not going to publish in a science journal anyway.

As the other seedlings start to look better, I'll plant them in the outside bed too.  We eat about one onion daily, and some are sold as long-keepers, so maybe there will be enough for a 9 month supply.  Maybe not.