garden news-its onion planting time here

GARDEN NEWS-ITS ONION PLANTING TIME HERE

here is a picture of a bunch of onions i received from dixondale farms in texas
they include about 60-75 onions
either
red creole
texas early white
1015 texas super sweet

yes those texas super sweet are super sweet
ive been known to eat one like an apple
they also dont seem to burn your eyes when you cut them

these bunches i order come from dixondale farms linked here
i get the short day sampler bunch with those three onions in them

i recently did a zoom master gardener class presented by ucsb on how to plant onions and garlic
interesting was the presenter uses these same onions here locally in his garden

it all starts in september or early october
whenever dixondale will take orders for the winter

i calculate how many onions i will need for my garden plot for the community garden and for the other gardeners to plant in their plots
this year i ordered around 400-500 onions that came in 8 bunches

i kept 60 for my garden 240+ for the community garden and the rest were given to the other plot holders and we sold some at our plant sale

if you go to the dixondale site you can plug in your zip code and it will tell you what type of onions to get
ie short day or intermediate day 

here in our zip code its short day
the same for the country n in texas

the choice is based on the latitude and sun exposure during the day

some nurseries here sell intermediate day but short days work better i think

this will be the 5th year i have planted them here
they have done great every year
last year was the best year so far


the fog or june gloom that hits in may and june can cause problems with curing them
sometimes this prevents storing them in onion chimes as i call them
we just go ahead and blend ours up in the food processor and freeze them in gallon zip lock bags to use in soups stews casseroles etc

some years if the weather is right they will store ok as the onion chimes

so i placed the order in late september with an arrival time the week after thanksgiving
if you wait too late to order them they wont be available

i think in texas many of the nurseries and feed stores sell these dixondale onions

if i could get them locally i would buy them locally but they arent available here


a month ago we cleared the peppers off this 30 ft bed  that is 3 ft wide
we raked it down to remove any debris
we then added a 3 inch layer of compost we make ourselves
we then added a sprinkling of a 4-4-4 organic fertilizer
this was then broad forked in well with our broadfork
then we added new drip lines
then we waited for about a month
this i allowed the soil to ripen for a month
dont you know the soil worms and bacteria and fungi were happy
we kept the bed watered since we rarely get rain here


then
after receiving our box of onions we planted them
1 inch deep
6 inches apart 
4 across the bed
a total of 240+ were planted
i randomly planted all 3 varieties

then i watered them in well with a fish emulsion seaweed molasses solution

this should give them a good boost
we water them with this solution twice a month

dixondale has good instructions on how to plant them linked here
we altered what we do so it fits our situation and our organic garden


here is a picture of ms b planting onions in my plot from 2 years ago

yep
there nothing like a bite out of a texas super sweet onion
and
not cry when you do it

later in the season ill post more pictures as they grow

my onions i planted in my plot will last us in the freezer until next spring 2024

onions are easy peasy to grow

the organicgreen doctor