Planting onions over Winter

 The thinking is changing on planting onions in the South.  The original thinking in the deep South was that onions are best planted in the Fall and grow slowly over the winter.  But the winter should not become so cold that the plant goes into dormancy, like it can in middle latitudes in Virginia and North Carolina.  The best idea in those locales is to start seeds indoors and transplant when the ground can be worked, typically March 1st.

The key to this process is selecting Short-Day varieties.  (Red Creole, Texas Early, White Bermuda).  These varieties will develop all winter, establishing extensive roots, and beginning to bulb. 

Long-day varieties require 14-16 hours of daylight.  Virginia gets about 14 hours of daylight starting in May and running through August. (The Vernal equinox on March 21 theoretically has 12 hours of light and 12 hours of darkness)  If you inadvertently plant long-day onions in September, you won't get much bulbing until May and they may be ready to harvest in June.  

You may have to harvest them before they are ready, if the temperatures climb quickly.  The heat may cause them to go to seed even before the bulb develops, and the stalks and leaves will begin to toughen.  If that happens, harvest the rest of the crop and use the white and light green lower parts as if they were green onions.

 Millenial Gardener:

1.  Grow onions from seeds.  (Not Sets).   

Onion sets are started from seed, but then when they reach about 1" they are harvested and dried.  Theoretically, when you plant the bulbs they resume growth.  But often that period of dormancy fools the onion into thinking that they are in their second year, and will proceed directly to flowering without producing any bulb to speak of. 

 2  Use short-day onion seeds.  This is not an area to experiment with. You have to carefully pair your variety to the latitude of where you live.  As usual for the Hampton Roads geography we are on the border of two growing types. Southeastern Virginia is exactly on the line between Short Day and Intermediate Day varieties.  But, because we live in the corner of the growing zone 8B that sticks up into Hampton Roads, we have warm enough temperatures in the winter to successfully start our seeds early.

Find the type that works in your area and always use it.  Yellow Granex.  Red Creole. Red amposta.

3.  Work out the timing of seeding, planting, and harvest.  Yellow Granex matures in 110 - 160 days, so we'll take an average of 140 days. 

Harvest will be in mid-July.  Lets take July 19th as the harvest day.  140 days before this date, will be March 1.  This is when we want to plant our onion transplants into the garden.  From seeding to transplant size is about 6 weeks, so we will start onion seeds indoors after January 15th.

4.  Initially plant with high nitrogen fertilizer.  Then, switch to a balanced fertilizer. You cut back on the nitrogen so that the plant will grow bulbs, not leaves.  The restriction of the nitrogen is critical to a beautiful bulb.

4.  Grow onions in loose and loamy soil.  Not dense or compact.  Mix in 2-3" of compost at the top of soil.  Mulch heavily after planting. 

5.  When you transplant your onions  Fertilize initially with a balanced fertilizer:  5-5-5, 10-10-10.  They should establish in a few days.  Once established, us a high-nitrogen fertilizer like Miracle-Gro to feed them.  When they get ready to bulb, stop the high-nitrogen, and switch to a balanced fertilizer like the 10-10-10.

 

 Onion Seed Schedule

January 15th.  Start onion seeds indoors.  Will need 6 weeks for germination and seedling growth. This will take us to March 1.

March 1st.  Transplant onion seedlings into garden under low tunnels.  Onion plants are hardy to 20 F, so planting out is safe.  Plant seedlings 3" apart.

May 1st.  Thin onions to 6" spacing.  This will give you an early harvest as well as giving the remaining onion bulbs space to grow.  Transplant pepper plants into the same bed to provide shade as the summer gets hotter.

June 1st.  Trim onion leaves to 8".  Spoon onions to give bulb room.  You want the bulbs to be exposed, but not the roots.

July 10th - 20th.  Plan to harvest your onions.  The bulbs won't grow much bigger than this and may start to shrink in preparation for winter.

 

 1870's Homestead

1.  Grow onions from seed and transplant.

2.  Top the onion leaves at 10 - 12 weeks to send growth down to the bulb.  Trim the leaves back to 8".  The trimmings are nutritious and should be used in the kitchen.

3.  Spooning the onions.  Lightly clear the soil away from the tops of the bulbs.  This includes a bit of soil so that the tops of the bulb is exposed.  Give that bulb room to expand. You want the bulb to be exposed, but not the roots.  This allows the bulb to expand unhindered. Thin any onions that are growing too close, so that you have 4" between plants.

4. Onions are heavy feeders.

5. Intercrop with peppers

6.  Shower watering to keep surface roots wet.

7.  Stay on top of weeding, since onions don't shade out the surface of the soil.

 

Onion Harvest:   In Virginia, we harvest alliums from late May through June, but harvest dates vary from year to year according to the weather, and also depend on if a crop is planted in the fall or spring. 

Prior to harvest, the neck region of multipliers weakens and the green tops begin to fall down. Do not water them during this period. When approximately 50% of the tops have fallen, the crop has sufficiently ripened and is ready for harvesting. There is no advantage to breaking over the tops of onions still standing (in fact this may shorten the storage life of certain varieties). Not all the tops fall over at the same time. Harvest the mature onions every few days. Those with tops still standing after 7–10 days should be harvested and kept separate from the rest. Eat them first because they will not keep as well.

 

Perennial Onions are also planted in the fall as bulbs.  This includes Walking onions, which are harvested for their greens, and Multiplier onions and shallots which produce multiple bulbs. 

Plant bulbs from mid October to mid December, with early to mid November being optimal. After sprouting, cover with a 2" layer of mulch to overwinter.

Egyptian Walking Onions can be harvested for their fresh greens and bulbs from fall through spring.  White multipliers are harvested in the spring.

 

Hydroponic Lettuce Farm

 I'm growing lettuce indoors hydroponically as an experiment of actual food production.

Materials:

• 48" LED shop light.  $19 at WalMart
• Electric timer.
  
• 12 32oz mason jars, regular mouth, with rings and lids. $30 at Amazon
• 2" net cups.  Pack of 50.  $10 Amazon
• Rock wool growing cubes
• Grow Big nutrient solution
  
• 2 one-gallon water jugs for mixing nutrient solution
• Paper sleeves to cover the mason jars
• Clear plastic storage container with lid, shoe box size.
• Lettuce seed, Basil seed
  

Week One:

1.  Begin by mixing up a 1/2 gal of nutrient solution at half strength.  Soak 12 rock wool cubes in this weak solution in the plastic storage container, which is now serving as your germination chamber.  When the starter cubes are fully saturated, leave the cubes standing with their feet in the water, just the lower 1/8th inch.  Make sure the solution does not come up higher and flood the seed.

2. Place 1-2 seeds in each cube. The last two cubes will have basil instead of lettuce.  (Keep your unused seeds in a zipper bag in the refrigerator).  Replace the lid of the container to maintain humidity around the seeds.  Lettuce seeds germinate at cooler temperatures so try to place your box in a cooler location out of direct sunlight until the seedlings emerge.  

Germination will take roughly 7 days. Check your germination chamber regularly to make sure there is adequate nutrient solution, so that your seeds and seedlings do not dry out.

Week Two

3.  Once the seedlings emerge, continue to grow them in the storage box until the first true leaves emerge.  This will usually take an additional week, leaving our timeline at 14 days.  During this time continue to add the weakened nutrient solution so that the cubes stay moist, but not flooded.

4.  During this week prepare the materials for the next stage:

• Suspend the 4' LED light over your growing area on its adjustable chain.  Set the electric timer for 18 hours on and 6 hours off.
  
• Arrange 12 mason jars with 12 net cup lids in the growing area
• Mix up additional full strength nutrient solution and fill each jar so that it barely touches the bottom of the net cup.
• Prepare the paper sleeves that will cover the jars and exclude the light, preventing algae from growing in the water below.  Fold the sleeve so that it has four distinct sides as it wraps around the jar.
  
• On each sleeve, Number each of the four sides (Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4)
• On the first side, write the date of transfer from the germination chamber to the jar.
• Then, determine what the date will be 3 months later and write that under the transplant date.  This is the expected productive life of this plant, after which we will need to replace it with a new one.
• The seedlings will remain in the plastic box until you see roots emerge from the cube.
  

Week Three

5. Transfer each young plant from the germination chamber to the net cup in the mason jar.  Pack a little filling material around each rockwool cube so that it fits securely into the net cup. (This could be additional rock wool, or hydroton balls, or glass pebbles or pool noodle bites.)  The tips of the emerging roots should reach into the nutrient solution.

Continue to grow in their new mason jars for an additional week.

Week Four

6.  The lettuce and basil plants are beginning to reach a mature size.  Let them grow an additional week undisturbed.

Week Five

7.  This marks the beginning of the harvest period.  Arrange all the jars so that "Week 1" is facing you.  To harvest, use scissors and snip off one leaf on the side facing you. Start with the bottom and outer-most leaves.  Initially, these first leaves will be on the small side, but the plant will continue to grow as the harvest continues.

Week Six through Eight

8.  At the start of the week, turn all the jars one quarter turn so that "Week 2" is now facing you. Then, harvest a leaf from each jar from this new side.  You will gather 10 or so lettuce leaves and 2 basil leaves for your salad.

Each subsequent week, you will turn the jar and harvest a new side.  This gives each trimmed side 4 weeks to recover and put out new leaves.

Remember that it took 4 weeks to bring a new lettuce plant into production.  We marked the end of production date on each jar.  So 4 weeks before that end date, you will need to get out the germination chamber and start a new set of seeds in rock wool

9. When the time comes, instead of snipping only one leaf, harvest the entire plant and clean out the net cup.  Replace the rock wool with a new transplant from the germination chamber.  Replace the nutrient solution with a fresh batch and update the sleeve with the new dates.

At that point, you will be able to continue the weekly harvest rotation.

May in the Garden

At the beginning of May, it's time to check in with the outside garden. 

According to the schedule, the Spring garden should be in full swing.  Seedlings we planted in late March and April should now be reaching maturity and in the process of being harvested.

For the Red Romain and Buttercrunch lettuce, that is definitely the case.  I did a series of plantings about a week apart, and the earliest plantings are fully mature and ready for harvest.  In fact, I have harvested outside leaves as well as one whole heads of buttercrunch.  The red and white radishes have been plentiful as well.  Growing beside them, the onions have leafed out and are holding their own.  Their height is allowing them to thrive, even though the lettuce is crowding them at the base.

The other bed was planted later, with Bok Choi, Swiss chard and Garlic.  Despite  later start, the Bok Choi have grown tremendously from their seedling stage and have put on plenty of major leaves in a short amount of time.  Both of these beds have been mulched with grass clippings to retain moisture and help with weeds.

At the far end of the bok choi bed, I've already planted three peppers and two basil.  While they are not suffering at all, they aren't actually growing and putting on any new leaves, either.  The truth is that the weather is still too cool for summer crops, or has been until recently.  While we've had pleasant days in the 70s, we've had just as many days in the 50s and nights in the 40s.  All the peppers can do is sulk and hopefully develop their root structure.

The general guideline is that summer crops like peppers and tomatoes really won't do much in the garden until after Memorial Day.  That's the  marker for putting in tomatoes.

Inside, the summer seeds have all germinated, but they are proceeding at different rates:

The roma and cherry tomatoes have exploded with growth and are ready to be transplanted into pots.   The peppers are taking their time, as are the big boy slicing tomatoes, who wish the roma would go away and give them some light.  On the right, the basil are holding their own, but in between are some seedling big boys.

At the other end, the peppers have sprouted along with the ground cherries, both of which are growing with modest enthusiasm.

Planting Summer

Just a quick note that I started the seeds for the summer garden in the propagator today, April 21st.

The seeds were:

• Anaheim Pepper
• Carnival Sweet Pepper
• Cascabella Pepper
• Ground Cherry
• Basil
• Cherry Tomato
• Roma Tomato
• Better Boy Tomato

For my raised beds, I only need three of each pepper and tomato, but I planted 5 of each, in case something happens.  I will plant all 5 basil and ground cherry, if they all germinate.

I continued to harvest another cabbage today for dinner.  I added it to the pineapple teriyaki chicken, where it was delicious.  These very successful red cabbages are making way for the tomatoes I've just started.  I'm looking for them to be ready in 6-8 weeks.

Below are the former residents of the Aerogarden, now growing in pots under the lights:

Strawberries

I've been talking about a perennial strawberry bed for a while and this past Sunday I finally got my start.  I had the middle bed basically dormant under a tarp this past winter, and I had planted nothing in it all last year. This spring it was ready for the strawberries. 

At the same time, a new load of compost was ready in the tumbling composter, So i was pleased that I got to use it on this application.  I also amended the soil with organic fertilizer and bone meal.  I planted 5 plants on 2-foot spacing, removing any flowers or fruits to allow the plants to establish well and hopefully get fruit next spring.  The variety I planted was called Eversweet and it is supposed to be everbearing.

Finally, I mulched it with a mixture of mostly mulched pine straw and a few hardwood leaves.  I ran the mower over it and collected it in the bag to chop it up a little before applying. I went with a good thick layer, to help hold soil moisture and prevent weeds.   When the time comes to root the runners, I will have to clear away a little of the mulch to let the runners actually touch the soil.

The area in the back will be used for the Ground Cherries, which are more of a summer crop, like tomatoes.  I am starting them from seeds in the propagator now and they should be ready to plant out in May.

Friday Update: April 17th

Today was a mix of the front yard and the back:

In the front yard, I weeded the front bed with the Japanese maple.  Then I put down two bags of mulch.  The entire front bed will take about 5 bags but my style is to get a good start on it and then use my progress to estimate how many more to get.  This keeps me from buying too many, but it means that I can't get the job done all at once.

Also in the front yard I put down weed and feed mixed with Milorganite organic fertilizer.  Because milorganite is pelletized and very dry, it makes a very good dispensing medium for other materials that have a tendency to clump.  As an organic fertilizer, it is almost impossible to over-apply.

In the Back yard.  I mulched the upper bed with grass clippings, finally.  I had been waiting to mulch it until most of the squares had come up.  I was hesitant to bury my tiny radish seedlings and make it much harder for them to reach the sunlight.  Now that most things are well established in the upper bed, it is much easier to mulch around them. 

The mulch will hold in the moisture, and in celebration I watered both the upper and lower beds.

I uncovered the middle bed and got it ready for planting.  I'm going to start with three strawberry plants on the uphill side of the bed.  The taller ground cherries will be going behind them so they don't block the sun. 

I'm working on two resolutions this summer.  One is to not leave projects half-done.  Like the mulch in the front bed; rather than waiting one or two weeks to finish mulching, instead, just go ahead and buy the mulch and put it out.  Then it will be finished and I can move on to other things.   It seems that I have a psychological issue with finishing things.  I feel more comfortable with things "mostly-done" and I'm not sure why.

The other resolution is to leave the yard in a clean state. I need to get in the habit of putting things away, putting tools away, putting materials away.  Don't leave trash out in the yard.  Don't leave hand tools or even power tools out overnight.  Don't leave waste wood or old concrete blocks lying around the job site after they have been used.  Instead, put them away by the shed so they won't end up broken or in the way.

Focusing on the Fruit Trees

I've written down a distillation of my approach to fruit trees and keeping them small.  Now I need to apply that principle to the actual fruit trees in my garden.

I'm starting with the two dwarf apple trees, since they seem to have the most potential.  Both get plenty of sun and have a small form factor that will allow them to be cared for properly.  In the last few years, they have been neglected and run wild, a bit.  So I basically need to start with first principles and set them back on the right track.

These two trees flowered in the first two weeks of April.  One has set fruit, and the other is still in flower. 

Step One.   The first thing I needed to do was correct some obvious problems with the overall growth of the tree.  Both of the trees had a wild hare branch that went shooting straight into the air like a water spout.  These obviously had to be removed.

• Remove all water spouts.  
• Remove all suckers growing from the base or from the trunk below 18".
• Remove all dead wood and broken branches.  
• Remove weak branches hanging from the bottom of the limbs.  
• Remove branches that are growing back toward the center or trunk.

Finally set the overall height of the tree.  The maximum height is six feet, though some trees would do better if they were even shorter.  Use your 6' rod to accurately measure the height at which to cut your leader.

Once complete, the tree immediately looked better.


Step Two.  In renovating the tree, identify the primary scaffold branches.  There should be 3 branches at each whorl or tier.  The lowest tier can have 3 or 4 branches as scaffolds.  These should be strong and extend at a 60 to 80 degree angle from the trunk.  All other branches that attach directly to the trunk should be removed.  It can help to mark these scaffold branches in some way to make it easier to go on.  Use flagging tape, hanging labels or even diluted latex paint.  Primary scaffolds are color coded to green.

These apple trees use a central leader profile.  (In this case, the central leader is clipped at 6 feet to limit the height of the tree so it is technically a modified central leader.)  The central leader profile usually has two tiers of scaffold branches.

Tiers should be at least 18" apart. So once you've identified  your 1st tier scaffold branches,  travel 18" to 24" up the trunk and identify a second tier or whorl of lateral branches.  The second tier should have only 3 scaffolds.  Once again, identify the three scaffold branches of the second tier and mark them in some way.

Using a thinning cut at the branch collar, remove any other branches from the trunk except the primary scaffolds you have identified.

The primary scaffold of the lower tier should extend 2 to 3 feet from the trunk, depending on the overall size of the tree.  One of my apple trees is a smaller one and more graceful, and a 2-foot scaffold is appropriate.  The tree pictured above is more vigorous and can support a 3-foot scaffold.  The scaffolds of the upper tier should be shorter than those below, usually 2 feet or less.

The drawing below shows a typical unpruned tree that is about 12 ft tall. (The lines represent 3-ft intervals)  For a commercial tree, 12 feet might be a good height, but for a backyard orchard, we need to trim the height of this tree at 6 feet, near the second line.  All the growth above that point is counter-productive.

Each of the yellow highlighted boxes shows the general location of the lower and upper tiers or whorls of branches.

 Keeping in mind that it is always challenging to represent a 3 dimensional tree in a flat drawing, look more closely at the first tier:

This drawing shows the four scaffold branches highlighted in green.  These are just the attachment points where the scaffolds meet the trunk.

As we look more closely at the lower right scaffold branch in the drawing, several things become clear.  The orange branches are too close to the trunk to be saved, and too long to be fruiting wood. They also hang below the horizontal, making the overall branch weaker. These orange branches will likely have to be pruned away with thinning cuts.

The yellow branch is not part of this scaffold branch; it belongs to a neighboring scaffold. Since it branches too close to the trunk and then immediately comes over and crosses the green scaffold, it likely just needs to be removed as well.

The extent of the green line shows a 24" length, so our scaffold can end anywhere just beyond that point.  That means that the magenta branch heading straight up is just not far enough along the scaffold to qualify as a secondary.  And, it's growing the wrong way and is crowding other branches.  Magenta needs a thinning cut to remove it.  The two blue branches at the transition are good candidates for secondaries. If this is a young tree, I would separate them with wooden spreaders.   Or, you could make a hard cut at the transition and prompt two new branches to grow.


Step Three. At the end of the primary scaffold, the limb should branch into two secondary branches.  If they are not already present, use a heading cut just beyond two suitable buds to stimulate this growth. If they are present, head the primary branch just beyond them.

As before, identify the two secondaries for each primary scaffold and mark them in some way.    Secondary branches are color coded to blue.

These two secondaries should extend from the primary another 24 -36".  Secondaries should be headed at that length.  Use your rods to accurately measure where this break should occur.  I the drawing above, one of the blue secondaries is rather long and probably needs to be headed back by several inches.  This cut may promote fruiting spurs to develop along it, but watch out for water spouts.

Secondary branches should not extend in height above the central leader, especially where it was cut at 6-feet.  You may need to trim the central leader annually; make sure your trim the secondaries as well to remain below this tip.

Step Four.
Growing laterally from the secondary scaffolds are other, shorter branches.  These are the source of your fruiting wood and may contain thickened spurs where your fruit will form.  Since you are completing your pruning in summer, you can easily see where fruit and flowers have formed on these fruiting branches.

Identify the fruiting branches and separate them from non-fruiting growth spouts.  Remove any that crowd other fruiting wood, or cross with them.  These fruiting branches should be 10-12" long but that may differ with the variety of your tree.

Thin the fruiting branches to have at least 6" between them, and head them so that they don't grow very long past their 10-12".  This fruiting wood should be unbranched, and not break up into smaller and weaker twigs.  It may form 1/2" fruiting spurs off of itself to hold the flowers and fruit.

Color this fruiting wood, that is actually bearing fruit, with a red paint wash.  Next year, we will trim off all new growth back to this growth ring, where the paint wash stopped.  Next year, as it bears fruit, we will give it a purple wash, and the following year, we will give it a blue wash. 

When fruiting wood has a blue wash, it means it has been in production for several years and we should then check it to make sure it is still strongly setting fruit.  If it is, we let it go another year, but if it drops off in productivity, we should cut it back and promote new fruiting wood to develop.

Step Five.
At this stage all the branches on the tree should be identified.  Anything that isn't immediately identifiable at this point should be pruned away.  The tree should be more compact, and yet the central area should be more open, allowing light and air to reach the center of the tree.

For this step, clear away all branches that were pruned from the tree.  Do not allow them to lie on the ground under the tree. Rake away any fallen leaves or remnants of fruit from last year.  You want to keep the site clean to prevent fungus and insects from finding a refuge to overwinter and renew their attacks.

With a mower, cut the grass beneath the tree very short.  Apply 4" of mulch under the drip line of the tree, leaving a bare ring around the trunk with no mulch.