Putting in the 2021 Onion Crop

Every year we order our onions from a company called Dixondale Farms in Carizzo Springs, Texas.  We love onions and plant a bunch of them - actually 3 bunches.  Each 'bunch' contains between 50-75 onions and they deliver around January 1st.  They come shipped in the mail and as soon as you get them you open them up.

Directions state to open the box and spread them out until ready to plant.  We ordered 1 bunch of Texas 1015 Sweet Onions and 2 bunches of Short Day Samplers.  The short day samplers contain Texas 1015 Sweet onions, white onions, and Creole onions.  The package contains a pamphlet called "Onion & Leek Planting Guide" and is full of good information on caring for your crop.  Additionally, throughout the growing seasons Bruce "The Onion Man" Frasier, sends out emails to assist you in growing a great crop.  I highly recommend Dixondale Farm Onions.  Click HERE for the Dixondale Farms website.

Saturday proved to be a nice day to get the onions in the ground.  I tied a string from fencerow to fencerow to make a straight row.

We use the "Back to Eden" gardening method so our soil is covered with four inches of wood chip mulch.  I rake back the mulch under the string with a rock rake to expose the soil.  Then we hoe up a narrow strip for planting and add chicken litter and biochar that has been inoculated with composted cow manure.

I use an old screwdriver as a planting tool.  I poke the screwdriver in the soil and plant an onion plant in the resulting hole, being very careful to only plant the onion plant 1 inch deep.  Any deeper and you run the risk of the plant not bulbing.

The onions are planted 4 inches apart.  In no time at all, the onions were all planted!  Five rows of beautiful onions.  

We will keep them watered and weeded and will nurture them until harvest time.  Can't wait!  Nothing like French Onion Soup,  Or caramelized onions!