Civilization without Onions?

I have to agree with Julia Child, "It's hard to imagine civilization without onions."  In our household I cook with onions all the time.  They add amazing flavor and taste to dishes.  I discovered that onions have been grown for at least 5000 years or more. They are easy to grow, transport and like a variety of soils and climates. They provide fiber and are high in vitamin C along with other great health benefits. 

This will be the third year that we have grown onions in our garden.  However, this is the first year we have started them from seed indoors instead of buying onion sets at the garden center. We planted the seeds in flats on March 2nd then placed them under grow lights.  (Start them 9-10 weeks before your Frost Free Date). 

Yellow Sweet Spanish Onions (started from seed)

This year we chose Yellow Sweet Spanish.  They are a reliable producer and popular for their sweet flavor.  Known as a long day onion they need 15 hours or more of sunlight and are best grown in the North.  They can be used as a bunching onion which is really nothing more than a young onion planted from seed harvested 30 days after planting (also known as scallions or green onions).  They mature to a one pound globe shaped onion in 95-100 days. 

The week before planting I started by hardening off the seedlings. You can read more about this process by reading my previous post here: Hardening off Seedlings

This past Sunday it was time to plant our onion transplants! Our garden plan for this year is drawn below.  I decided to plant onions in Bed #2 & #4 this year.  I also planted lettuce in Bed #4 that same day. 

2014 Garden Layout

BED #4: Ready for Onions & Lettuce

The easiest way to get the seedlings out of the tray was to use a plastic spoon which scooped them out without destroying the plant.  I planted 9 seedlings per 12" x 12" square using the Square Foot Garden Method.  

Planting seedlings using a plastic spoon 

Seedlings planted!

BED #2:(on left) Planted with 36 Onion seedlings.

 After planting the seedlings I then cover the raised bed with row cover fabric (pictured below) to give the seedlings extra protection from insects, squirrels and frost.  

BED #4:(on right) Currently planted with 19 Garlic, 36 Onion seedlings & 42 Lettuce seedlings.

CARING FOR ONIONS: 

1. Keep soil consistently moist until bulbs enlarge. One inch of water per week (more for sweet onions). Keep in mind that onions will look healthy even if they are bone dry. When tops start to fall over withhold water. 

2. Cover with a layer of mulch.

3. Fertilize every few weeks with nitrogen for large bulbs. Stop when onions push soil away and bulbing process has started. 

Our harvested Onions last year (along with other veggies)

ONION PROBLEMS:

1. If an onion sends up a flower stalk cut it from the plant immediately or the bulb will be reduced. (From our pictures below you can see that this happened to us last year) That must be why our onions only grew to about 1/2" round. 

2. In May or June onions are sometimes attacked by the onion fly.  You can protect your crop with row covers.  

April 8th 2014

Next week I will plant the Parsley and 2 weeks later Carrots!

Determining Your Best Planting Date (Part 2)

Now that you have figured out your Frost Free Date* what do you do with it?  I will let you in on a little secret....I found a simple chart where you just type in your Frost Free Date and everything else is figured out for you!!!  It tells you when to plant your vegetables.  No headaches and it saves you time. Here is the sample below with my planting dates for this year.

*NOTE: (If you don't know your Frost Free Date refer to my previous post here Determing Your Best Planting Date (In Spring) Part 1 )

This will be my third year using this chart and I love how it simplifies everything for me.  I didn't create this so I can't take any credit for it.  I found it on Pinterest and the rest is history!  Here is the chart on my Pinterest board called: Starting Plants Indoors from Seed. The Lazy Gardeners Seed Starting Chart Its from the website You Grow Girl.  You can download your own file for free and start using it right away.

Here are some of the great benefits of using this chart:

1. Simple: Just enter in your frost free date and your planting dates are automatically entered on the chart.  No need for you to do any calculations!
 
2. Staring Seeds Indoors: It tells you an early sow date or late sow date to start your seed indoors (if you choose to start your own and not buy transplants).

3. Direct Sow Outdoors: This is listed for plants that you just start from seed outside.  (These plants don't transplant well if you try to start them indoors from seed).

4. Choices of Planting Dates: You can choose either an early or late planting date.  Go with what works with your schedule.  If you miss the early then go with the late date.

Determining your Best Planting Dates (in Spring) Part 1

 

I have to be honest with you, the first year we started our garden I bought peppers, onions and herbs and then went home and planted them all in the same day. (Gasp!)  I had no concept of a spring frost date or the understanding that different vegetables required different planting times. Believe it or not all our vegetables survived that year, but the next year I figured out I needed to make some changes. 

The keys points to determining when to plant in the Spring:

1.Frost free date- People who garden talk about the frost free dates.  This date is based on past years frost patterns and your location.  There are 2 different dates one for Spring (first frost) and the other for Fall (last frost).  Spring is the most critical date to start out the season.

Here are some websites where you can look up the estimated frost free dates for your area: 

Farmer's Almanac-  http://www.almanac.com
Natural Gardening Co.-  http://www.naturalgardening.com 
National Climatic Data Center-  http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov

Planting Garlic

 This is the first year that we have planted garlic and its exciting to have something growing in the garden during the winter and early spring months.  I have heard that garlic is simple to grow and we decided it was worth trying! In the last post I shared tips on growing garlic and in this post I go further to explain how its planted. 

Tochilavri Garlic

"German White" Garlic is supposed to be an easy garlic to grow if its your first time planting garlic.   It is a very strong variety and easy to peel with a sweet flavor.  It grows well in most of the U.S. and loves cold winters in the north. 

"Tochilavri" Garlic also known as "Red Toch" has up to 18 cloves per bulb.  Its a good garlic to start with because each head produces many new plants.  It also matures earlier than other garlics.  It is a soft neck garlic - See more at: http://followingthemastergardener.blogspot.com/#sthash.25rfoalI.dpuf

"Tochilavri" Garlic also known as "Red Toch" has up to 18 cloves per bulb.  Its a good garlic to start with because each head produces many new plants.  It also matures earlier than other garlics.  It is a soft neck garlic.

German White Garlic

"German White" Garlic is supposed to be an easy garlic to grow if its your first time planting garlic.   It is a very strong variety and easy to peel with a sweet flavor.  It grows well in most of the U.S. and loves cold winters in the north.

Tochilavri (left) German White (right)

Life was busy around our house and the garlic arrived in the mail before I was ready to plant.  I kept it in the refrigerator for a week until I was able to plant around November 16th. It was a very simple planting process.

1. First I broke up the cloves in each bulb.  

2. Then I added an organic fertilizer to the soil and mixed it in with a rake.

  Press them 1 1/2" inches deep into the soil about 6-8" apart.    - See more at: http://followingthemastergardener.blogspot.com/#sthash.25rfoalI.dpuf

3. Next press the cloves 1 1/2" inches deep into the soil spacing them 6-8" apart.

 4.  Then add about 6 inches of leaves (straw or dried grass clippings) for mulch.

In about 4 to 8 weeks (depending on the weather) you should see shoots growing.  

Garlic planted in front portion of BED #4 (far right)

Note: It snowed the week after I planted the bulbs so I won't be seeing any shoots. The bulbs stop growing in the winter and then start up again in the spring.  Then sometime in June you harvest!

Companion planting Beans Squash & Corn

When I was planning our plant layout this past winter I came across the term companion planting  It is a practice that has been around for some time and is recommended for organic gardening.  This concept made sense to us.  Basically you plan out your garden with plants known to help other plants by some or all of the following: 

• helping them grow

• keeping harmful insects away

• attracting beneficial insects

• providing nutrients 

• at times provide climbing support

I quickly wrote down what crops we were going to grow and then what worked best by what.  Then I then started laying things out and moving plants around until everything was by a plant that helped it or at least didn't harm it.  (Through this process we discovered that last year some of our plants were not in the best locations....that's how you learn).  

2013 Plan for BED #2 (using modified 3 sisters layout)

One of the most intriguing discoveries was made by my husband.   He discovered the three sisters companion planting method used originally by the Native Americans.   In order to have success with this method you need to pay attention to varieties of your plants, timing and seed spacing.

Three sisters example (taken from Old Farmer's Almanac)

The key is to plant Corn in several rows for pollination, then you plant Pole Beans and then Squash with a trailing vine.  The Corn then serves as a trellis for the Pole Beans and Squash as they grow up the plant.  They also benefit each other providing nutrients as they grow.
We decided to give it a try.

On May 20th we got to work planting Beds #2 & #3.   We started by soaking the Corn and Bush Bean seeds in water 30 minutes before planting.

Corn & Bush Beans seeds soaking

Marigolds, Basil & Squash Seedlings- Cilantro & Bean Seeds

Bed #3 (below) was to receive: Bush Beans, Cilantro and Summer Squash to add to the Onions, Carrots and Peas already growing. 

Bed #3 with Peas, Carrots & Onions growing.

My thoughtful husband found a way to speed up the seed planting process for this year.  He found some old plywood and drilled holes with the recommended Square Foot Garden Method spacing for beans which is 9 per square.  So now we have this template that we can use over and over every year to quickly plant seeds! 

Template for Bush Beans

Once the beans are all planted you just need to cover them with dirt and water! 

Holes in bed with beans ready to be covered with soil.

This is the first year that I have planted Cilantro from seed.  In the past I have just bought the plants at our local hardware store. 

Cilantro seeds ready to plant

I had to remove the Peas from the back of the bed in order to make room for the summer squash.    

Summer Squash

Winter Squash- Winter Harvest Mix seeds

The Winter Squash we started from seed was from a mix of Burpee seeds.  The seeds were a blend of: Delicata Squash, Burgess Buttercup, Vegetable Spaghetti, and Waltham Butternut.  I made sure to select 1 of each different type of seed so that we have 1 of each growing!  (However, I have no idea which seedling is which type of squash!) 

Bed #2 (below) was to receive: Corn, Winter Squash, and Pole Beans to add to the Broccoli, Cauliflower & Peas already growing. 

BED #2 Planted!

We planted the Corn and then when it reaches 4" tall you are to plant the Pole Beans and Winter Squash.  (We planted our Winter Squash early with the Corn seeds, because our seedlings were ready.  We may find this was a bad idea but we will see!) 


This completes the planting of all 4 raised beds. Now comes our favorite part: we sit back and watch everything grow!

Planting Broccoli, Cauliflower & Carrots

Last night (April 29th) we got out in the garden and were able to plant!  Its always exciting when you have more plants and seeds going into your raised beds.  I had spent the week before slowly hardening off the broccoli and cauliflower plants we had started from seed.   It was also time to get the carrot seeds in the ground.  We decided to split up the work and my husband planted the carrot seeds while I planted the broccoli and cauliflower. 

Bed #3  Onions & Peas growing well. Time to add the carrots!

Our second year gardening (in a 4 x 4 space) I attempted to grow carrots.  The rabbits nibbled through my plastic chicken wire fence and mowed down the carrots before they had a chance to get through the first month.  This year we have decided to try again and my husband read up on some important tips to make sure you have a great crop of carrots. 

 

Step 1: Loosen up the soil

Step 2: Add Bone Meal

Bone Meal sprinkled on bed

Step 3: Mix Bone Meal into the soil

Step 4: Put 2 seeds in each location and keep them on the surface of the soil

Step 5: Cover seeds with vermiculite

Step 6: Repeat process until all seeds are planted

Almost done!

 

Step 7:  Cover seeds with burlap.  Soak burlap with water to keep moisture in.

 Planting the Broccoli and Cauliflower was a very simple process compared to planting the carrots.   The important part to remember is to disturb the roots as little as possible when planting. 

Step 1: Layout the plants in 1 foot spacing

Step 2: Dig hole 3 inches deep and carefully put plant in hole.

Step 3: Fill hole with soil. 

Its also helpful to make a saucer like depression around each plant to help hold water.  Finish with firming the soil around the plant and watering the seedlings thoroughly.