Onions & a Useful Chart - Page 6

AlittleSalt · July 11, 2016

October 2015 was my first time to plant in a tray. Before that, we always bought sets in January, and that meant growing whatever variety we could find. There are many things I like more about planting in trays.

You get a wider choice of what varieties you want to plant.

It's a little cheaper than buying sets. Onion seeds packs have a lot of seeds in them - or at least the ones I bought did.

You can also save seeds from those that go to seed. I think growing seeds from plants that produced in your own garden do better, but that's just my thoughts on that.

They are growing inside under lights a lot like tomatoes and peppers. The lights don't have to be so close to the plants, so there's a lot less moving the lights up.

You are still gardening while it's cold and snowing outside.

I grow them in our home, so there's no extra heating cost, and you get to watch them grow. You can even give them a haircut - sort of like pruning a bonsai tree. I really enjoyed growing them this way.

I also planted sets we bought. Both ways produced well and at the same time. So far, I haven't found any differences between growing hybrids verses OP - other than saving seeds.

About that not so good place because of the extra shade. I'm going to plant onions there and in a much sunnier area to compare. We like onions of all sizes. It nice being able to pick the size onion you need for whatever you're using it for. We like that better than cutting a huge onion and using part of it and then it sits in the refrigerator for days or weeks.

Worth1 · July 11, 2016

No way could I not eat a whole onion in one day.

If I dont I set them out to dry

Worth

AlittleSalt · July 15, 2016

I planted Black Eyed Peas today and will be planting some more tomorrow. They fixate nitrogen - https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=nitrogen+fixation so I planted some in the onion bed. I plan on turning that crop in/under and planting mustard greens to overwinter until a few weeks before time to plant onions - again, turning the mustard greens into the soil. I want to add as much nitrogen the organic way as I can before planting onions. This is an experiment for me - part of why I like gardening so much.

Worth1 · July 15, 2016

If you let the beans go to seed you will lose the nitrogen and not get much added the soil.

Strange but true with most of these nitrogen fixing plants.

Worth

AlittleSalt · July 15, 2016

Yes, very true. I have do the same thing with the mustard. http://www.bountea.com/articles/ccmanure.html

AlittleSalt · August 16, 2016

This is an onion we've had sitting on our kitchen bar for a month or so. We try to keep the house around 74F. It grew this while sitting on the bar.

Worth1 · August 16, 2016

It has reverted back to a dividing onion maybe potato onion.
Plant the thing.

Worth

AlittleSalt · August 16, 2016

I have heard of them. I looked up a site https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potato_onion

Now I've got to go see if there are more of them. Thanks for the info Worth.

July 11, 2016	#76
AlittleSalt BANNED FOR LIFE Join Date: May 2014 Posts: 13,333	October 2015 was my first time to plant in a tray. Before that, we always bought sets in January, and that meant growing whatever variety we could find. There are many things I like more about planting in trays. You get a wider choice of what varieties you want to plant. It's a little cheaper than buying sets. Onion seeds packs have a lot of seeds in them - or at least the ones I bought did. You can also save seeds from those that go to seed. I think growing seeds from plants that produced in your own garden do better, but that's just my thoughts on that. They are growing inside under lights a lot like tomatoes and peppers. The lights don't have to be so close to the plants, so there's a lot less moving the lights up. You are still gardening while it's cold and snowing outside. I grow them in our home, so there's no extra heating cost, and you get to watch them grow. You can even give them a haircut - sort of like pruning a bonsai tree. I really enjoyed growing them this way. I also planted sets we bought. Both ways produced well and at the same time. So far, I haven't found any differences between growing hybrids verses OP - other than saving seeds. About that not so good place because of the extra shade. I'm going to plant onions there and in a much sunnier area to compare. We like onions of all sizes. It nice being able to pick the size onion you need for whatever you're using it for. We like that better than cutting a huge onion and using part of it and then it sits in the refrigerator for days or weeks.

July 11, 2016	#77
Worth1 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Den of Drunken Fools Posts: 38,539	No way could I not eat a whole onion in one day. If I dont I set them out to dry Worth

July 15, 2016	#78
AlittleSalt BANNED FOR LIFE Join Date: May 2014 Posts: 13,333	I planted Black Eyed Peas today and will be planting some more tomorrow. They fixate nitrogen - https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=nitrogen+fixation so I planted some in the onion bed. I plan on turning that crop in/under and planting mustard greens to overwinter until a few weeks before time to plant onions - again, turning the mustard greens into the soil. I want to add as much nitrogen the organic way as I can before planting onions. This is an experiment for me - part of why I like gardening so much.

August 16, 2016	#82
Worth1 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Den of Drunken Fools Posts: 38,539	It has reverted back to a dividing onion maybe potato onion. Plant the thing. Worth