2018 Onion Harvest

The onions look a little tired, don't they?  Some of them are laying down.  Actually, that is the sign that it is time to harvest them.  The weight of the onion greens just cause the neck of the onion to bend over.  Not all of them will bend over at the same time.

Onions ready for harvest

You can see how the neck bends over on this white onion...

Same thing on a yellow onion.  This one is a 1015 Texas Sweet.  It is supposed to be similar to a Vidalia onion.

After pulling the leaning onions out of the ground, I lay them on top of the row to cure a little bit.  The only thing is, you don't want the onions to "sunburn."  So what you have to do is zig zag the onions so that the onion tops lay over the bulb of the onions. 

I recommend leaving them out for one day.  I left them out for two days like this and a few of the smaller ones started getting soft.  I took them inside quickly and cut them up and froze them in zip loc bags.  Some were a real nice size, like this Texas Sweet...

The Creole Reds were a little disappointing in size, but I've never been able to have much luck getting them to grow into a nice size onion.

The white onions grew to a good size!

I trimmed the roots and snipped the necks of the onion about an inch above the bulb and brought them inside.  Then I put them into milk crates to allow air flow.

I'll keep checking on them to ensure we don't lose any.  If they start getting soft, we will quickly cube them and freeze them.  It is always nice to have a good bit of onions around the house.  I love to cook with them.  Hopefully they will cure and will last in our pantry so that we can enjoy them for a long time to come.