Onions and Leeks

I didn't plan on planting onions this year but as I was picking up my started leeks there were some "Candy" onions and I thought I would give them a try.  I normally start onions from sets but this time I am trying them from started plants.

I know how to prep the leeks for planting so I did the same for the onions.  After teasing the roots apart I trimmed them to about two inches in length.

I couldn't find any specific depth to plant them at on the tag or in any of my books so I planted them 6 inches apart about four to six inches deep.  We will see what happens.  The leeks I planted eight inches deep.



2011 Bean, Leek, Garlic, Onion Reviews

Tendergreen Snap Green Bean - I was happy with this variety.  It grew quickly and provided one main crop with a second picking.  I liked that it was a bush variety and didn't need to be trellised.  The beans were typical green beans with good flavor.

Royal Burgundy Snap Beans - These beans are a wonderful deep purple.  I picked them specifically just for the color.  They were prolific bushy plants.  My only wish is that they held their color when cooked.

Kenearly Yellow & Jacobs Cattle - Both of these drying beans did similarly.  Both had trouble with disease and were spotted with yellow and brown splotches.  The harvest was mediocre.  I have extra seeds so I might try them again but I'm not sure if it is worth the space.  I will have to try the beans soon and decide if they have excellent flavor worth taking up the space.

American Flag Large Leeks - This was my first time growing leeks.  I was overall happy with the final plants.  Some were very large, some skinny.  I still have some in the ground waiting to be picked, I want to see how well they do with in ground winter storage.

California Garlic - This is a soft neck variety that did poorly two years in a row.  Every bulb was tiny and if I was lucky some were small.  I don't ever want to try this variety again.

Yellow Stuttgarter - These onions also did poorly.  All of my onions were tiny and small.  It might be my clay soil, despite the fact that I have amended it and loosened it.  But I am still on the quest for an onion that does great for me.

Harvest

This week the Summer harvest really started coming in.  Along with the first tomato I also harvested eggplant, carrots and all the onions.  There are a bunch of things that I just forgot to take pictures of such as all the cucumbers and more squash.

First Sprouts

The onions and garlic starting coming in about a week after they were planted.  This picture was taken a few days ago, more and more keep popping up everyday.  To give you an idea how little they are this guy is only about a half an inch.  It's exciting when the garden is no longer a big patch of dirt!

Spring Planting

Over the weekend I was able to get some of our plantings started.  It rained so hard Saturday it was too muddy so I waited until Sunday afternoon when the ground had dried out enough.  Unfortuneatly it got dark before I could finish everything.  I wasn't going to get the lamp out again, I do have my limits.  Hopefully later this week I will be able to get the rest of our Spring seeds in. 

Broccoli transplants and a new Rosemary plant in the back.

It's a very unexciting picture.  But behind the four sticks are the rows of onions and garlic I planted.  The onions are Yellow Stuttgarter.  I planted them 4 inches apart which seemed a bit close hopefully they get big enough.  This year I decided against growing red onions since I don't use them as often and the variety I chose last year did quite poorly.  We go through yellow onions much faster so I decided it would be better use of our space only to plant yellow this year.  The garlic variety is California and those were planted 6 inches apart. 

  

The asparagus patch, I planted 16 plants.  Each is marked with a stick so I know exactly where they are and can watch for the new growth.  I planted mostly Jersey Knight and some Jersey Giant.  Even though I normally prefer heirloom plants I opted against the heirloom Martha Washington so I don't have to worry about self seeding.  I only put a couple of inches of dirt on top of the roots.  You aren't supposed to completely cover them in the beginning.  As they grow rest of the dirt gets filled in around them.  I have read differening opinions on spacing ranging from 12-18 inches.  I wanted to fit as much in as possible so I went with 12 inches.

And people wonder why I don't love our neighbor's Magnolia tree.  If you need a reminder look a couple of posts down at the pretty, clean mulch of last week.  This is only half the petals the other half has yet to drop.  They are slippery and the leaves in the Fall are even worse.

Storing Onions

It was finally time to put away my onions for storage this week.  I believe they had enough time to cure but it being my first time growing and storing onions I wasn't quite sure.  They laid out in the sun for a few days and then spent a couple of weeks in a basket in the garage.  I probably should have laid them out in the garage but I didn't really have the room. 

To store the onions I cut the tops off.  If they looked like all the papery layers had dried (like the first onion) they got stored.  The onions that had inner layers that hadn't completely dried like the second onion went into the fridge for use now. 

I read that a good way to store onions is in pantyhose.  Sounds odd, I know.  I had a few pairs that I don't use so I decided to give it a try.  You put the onion in a leg all the way to the toe and then tie it off followed by other onions. Then hang the onions in a cool, dry, dark place.  I hung ours in the storage room in our basement.  Our onions ended up on the small size so I will probably use them up too quickly to really test this storage method but we will see how it goes.

Recent Harvest

Carrotts

Garlic and Onions that are curing for storage.  They were all a bit smaller than I had hoped for but for the first try growing both I am overall pleased.

And more tomatoes!

Not Looking Good

These are my onions (white and red) and they are not looking good.  I have never grown onions before but I know they shouldn't look like this and I am not sure what went wrong.  I planted them according to the package directions.  In the beginning the leaves were growing upward but now they are just laying all over the ground.  Some of the onion tops are starting to pop up at the soil level and I'm not sure if I should cover them.