My seeds have come, now let's talk about onions. the

I was so happy to open the mailbox yesterday and find seeds there for me.  They were not for the greenhouses as have been all the shipments for the past two months.  These are mine.  I am so happy to think that the gardening season gets to begin.

First come the onions.  These are the earliest seeds I put in.  I like seed onions.  They are the first year of growth for an onion.  Onions are biennials which means that it takes two years to complete the life cycle.  The first year you get a plant with a completely formed bulb.  If you would leave that in the ground during a mild winter and mulch it over, it would sprout again from the bulb the next spring.  This is what you are growing when you buy onion sets.  This is the second year growth.  The second year and onion grows, it will put up growth again and it will form a bulb.  The difference in the second year is that the plant wants to send up a flower head and complete the life cycle for which it was meant...reproduction of its species.  By growing onion seeds, my plants spend their time just growing with no energy or size lost to pursuit of reproduction.

Buying onion seeds is also a bit of science.  Where in the world are you growing them and in what season?  Here in the upper Midwest we grow onions during the long summer months.  We grow LONG DAY onions here.  I like Ailsa Craig, Walla Walla, Sweet Spanish, and Copra.  I usually only grow one or two types of onions.  I also like to grow keepers which will dry their skins and hold for much of the winter with no additional preparation.  They just need it cool, dry, and dark.  Now if I lived in the South and grew a crop of onions during the winter months (onions are good cool season crops) or maybe in the Mediterranean countries also during winter months, I would choose SHORT DAY onions.  These are breed to grow and bulb up during short day periods when the light is not at its best.  I do not know if they grow short day onions in a greenhouse setting in the north during the winter.  Why in the world would we when you can grow them in the summer and keep them in the winter?  I am still using the onions I harvested last fall.  If they start sprouting, I use those onions first.  I also break off the green tops to slow the process when I can't use them fast enough.

I also grow bunching onions which most people would call green onions when they go to shop in the produce section.  They don't really bulb out and you pull and use them...green!   Both types can be put in when the ground is cold but workable.  I typically shoot for mid-April in our neck of the woods.  I am able to put the plants in the ground as well as put in the bunching onion seeds.  Both will put up with the weather that our Wisconsin springs tend to dish out with wild variety and extremes.  It seems to be an awful thing to put out seedling, but you are rewarded with early onions with good bulb set.

If you haven't ordered your onion seeds yet, you may find some on a rack at one of your better garden centers if you are not up to waiting for shipment.  Seeds started in January and February will reward you with a wonderful crop of onions long into winter.

Fall vegetables...canning, freezing, or just keeping it cool

I have continued to keep putting up the harvest as long as it keeps coming in.  That includes the harvest that comes in from my local farmers as well.  There are so many crops that continue to produce after the first freeze.  Just because the weather changes at the end of September, it is still too early to write off the weekly farm market visits.  In Milwaukee there are several winter farm markets that have sprung up as well.

There are several crops that are better after the cold hits.  Kale, cabbage, brussel sprouts, late apples, parsnips, turnips, carrots, and several other root vegetables are a few of them.  I also wait for the fall to buy a bushel of potatoes, some storing onions (when I don't have enough of my own), and winter squash.  Many farmers have cold storage areas for items that they can continue to sell well after the last apple is picked and potato is dug.

Some crops require no preparation other than a quick cleaning before storing them in a cool, dark location.  Many of the root crops can be stored in the extra frig if you have it or layered in sand in an area that does not freeze.  Squash can be laid out on shelves or hung in nets to store until they start to lose their storage limits.  The better that the rind is cured in sun and kept dry, the longer it will store later.  Potatoes and onions as well as garlic just need some air circulation and a cool, dark space to keep for months.

Natural fermentation will also keep crops for a much longer time, sauerkraut being one of the most common in a town with a large population of German and Polish heritage.  Fermented foods do not end there.  Check out some of the old and new authors that devote their time to writing about some common and uncommon fermented food.  I had fun with a bag of "wind fall" apples and the cider project.  I made one gallon of some very nice hard cider with apples that my sister salvaged from their fallen tree.  Next year I will make twice as much.  The package of champagne yeast from the wine making store was a very small investment for my project.

You don't have to have a big canning set up or a large freezer to enjoy some of the local produce into the cold, winter months.  

A little of this and that...

The weather was beautiful on Sunday so I was able to open the windows and turn on the stove.  The first round of beans have been canned a dilly beans.  I have added the recipe from the Ball Canning and Freezing book which has been by my side for over 25 years.  It came with my pressure cooker and I use it all the time.

I ran across something somewhat alarming while out in the garden picking beans so I picked around the affected plants and did them last.  After some research, I decided I damage them while using the Weed Dragon to kill some weeds along the fence somewhat near the beans.  If anyone thinks otherwise, chime in and let me know.

The heat has been a killer and I dread what the water and electric bill will be from this heat wave.  I have been looking around at how other municipalities are dealing with tree watering, as Milwaukee has been trying to keep the new stuff going with water trucks.  I saw some water bags along the boulevards in West Allis on their new trees.  Alverno College had these water bins around their trees to do the slow soak.

The onions started bending over before vacation so I pushed them all down.  (See Onions post from 8/16/11) After a week or so of dying back, I pulled the plants, trimmed the roots and cut the tops to about 2-3" over the onion bulb.  I cured them in the trays in the garage for most of the period (it was just too darn hot for man and onion in that sun).  I pulled them out in the sun on the milder temperature days to dry them and now they are ready for storage.  Store onions in a cool, dry, dark location.  It is a beautiful crop that I am happy to have.  Now I have to get some lettuce in the ground for fall harvest.