Planting onion seeds in the fall or late winter...

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

considering how rough the winter was in our area last year that could have affected some of the trials too. snow just wasn't melting off between storms last winter. when it did melt caused flooding in some areas.we just didn't get out of that cold wet feeling most of the spring.

i thought the idea of having a high tunnel over many low tunnels is a good idea. when you think of the insulating factor to keep things inside protected to extend out the season a few extra weeks or months without having to crack on a heater it keeps the costs down.

i think when i looked up 2 of the varieties they mentioned i found them offered through Territorial Seeds.

 

[digitS']

Johnny's Seed has one or two, also.

I hope that this is okay with @Beekissed . I'm drifting off from what she was thinking about.

Here is the picture Smiles Jr. had:

It should work fine for onions but I hadn't really thought of having onions through the winter.

My tunnel inside the greenhouse is not nearly so nice. I crammed the too-many lettuce transplants in last and put some where the low tunnel plastic film will be gathered at one end. I told DW that those 6 or 8 plants shouldn't really be there because I have to put that loose plastic somewhere.

She said, "oh, they will probably die anyway." Well !! Just because I haven't grown lettuce in the winter greenhouse before doesn't mean I can't! And, that they will die .

Anyway, since there is no wind in there, I just lay the film over the pvc hoops. Flop.

I could make that little tunnel nicer - like the one in the picture ... tack the plastic down to some 2 by 2's ... save the half dozen lettuce plants on the end ...

Shoot! I should be too lazy for that bother. Just because I'm laying around the house most days. It's getting cold! Work in the cold for lettuce plants? ... nice looking little hoopy in a hoop house tho', isn't it?

Steve

 

[Beekissed]

No worries, Steve....love the winding roads of everyone's thoughts on the topic.

I was wanting to do this experiment to see if it can actually happen here and also if I can avoid the transplant stress that so many plants undergo with seeding in trays, especially onions...don't they undergo about three different transplants by the time they hit the actual garden?

I'm also interested in finding out~exactly~when the onions would germinate naturally and start to sprout. It's hard to find that out when seeding inside. I've been watching the volunteer tomatoes in the garden this year and they seemed to be coming up and approximately the same size as mine started indoors, when I set mine out, but they grew much faster then mine, it seemed. One day there wasn't anything there, a few days later there stood a 5 in. mater plant. I'm thinking, I'm wasting my time seeding them inside if I get the same results in less time and without the transplant shock by just letting them start by themselves in the garden.

So, I had hoped to have my ducks in a row enough to have already seeded onions and maters into the fall garden for this experiment, but I didn't. I'm glad I didn't, though, as they might have germinated and sprouted in the unseasonably warm weather we had in Oct., and Nov. thus far...my taters were already sprouted and standing 6-8 in. tall! Had to bury those tops nice and deep.

Now we are finally getting some colder weather, so it may be safe to plant some seeds in the garden where they will sustain a nice freeze, lie dormant until spring and pop up when the soil is optimal warmth.

Just playin' around with this BTE garden...never had this much freedom in all seasons to plant things, so it's all like a new toy to me right now.

 

[digitS']

...I was wanting to do this experiment to see if it can actually happen here and also if I can avoid the transplant stress that so many plants undergo with seeding in trays, especially onions...don't they undergo about three different transplants by the time they hit the actual garden?...

Well, now I'll risk slowing everyone's viewing of this page ...

The onion seed just goes in flats of soil in the cold February greenhouse.

After awhile, the seed begins to sprout and the seedlings grow.

This was several years ago and wasn't planned. I set the onion flats out for hardening off and left for some garden work. It snowed while I was gone!

Here I'm celebrating a nice dill volunteer but you can see how close the onions are to each other, weeks after transplanting. They are certainly ready to be thinned for green use.

Not a very good picture but the spacing improves after many of the plants are pulled for scallions so that those remaining can develop bulbs and mature ...

... for harvest.

Steve

 

[digitS']

Beekissed cuts me a little slack ..

. and this is what happens!



Steve

 

[Beekissed]

No, no!! I LOVE this!!! Pics are worth a thousand words, Steve. So...just the one transplant from the time of seeding? I'm thinking, in my skimming of articles while looking for the right one, I might be seeing thinnings and thinking "transplanting".

I think maybe that I'll designate a nursery bed in my cold frame for seeding some of these so I can thin them there, transplant them elsewhere and in such a manner finally get the onions throughout the garden area like I'm wanting. Some I'd like to sow directly into place with the use of some homemade seed tape so I'll get the right spacing and also can keep track of where they are in the midst all the materials in my garden at present.

 

[digitS']

Just one transplanting - into a garden bed ...

I think I've finally developed a technique to make the transplanting easier. I hold the seedling between my index and middle finger. I've noticed that just a few kids will hold a pen like this. Here's a picture I found; a calligrapher was showing how one might avoid cramping.

Of course, I'm not writing on the soil surface. I'm trying to get pencil-shaped seedlings in the soil without damaging the roots. I scratch into the soil with those 2 fingers and spread them a little so as to leave the seedling behind when I lift my hand.

They are pretty tuff but here is a picture that might be discouraging with regards to efforts involved. Well ... they kinda shrink for a few days after setting out.

Steve

 

[Beekissed]

I can't stop looking at that soil! I bet you could plant dimes and grow dollars in that stuff!!!! Serious soil envy going on here....

 

[digitS']

You like that gravel?!

It is mined commercially at several locations in this valley of glacial till.

A couple of those places are just a mile or 2 from my gardens.

Steve

 

[bobm]

NOT when you have to hoe, hoe, hoe the row. All of those rocks makes for a dull hoe !!!