Got the Onions in The Ground

Last week we got our onions in the mail from Dixondale Farms in Carizo Springs, TX.  We received one bundle of the Short Day Sampler.  The Sampler includes 48 plants that are a mixture of the 1015 Texas Super Sweet, Texas Early White, and the Red Creole.  We like to plant this one as it is a nice variety.

We also got two bundles of the Yellow Granex Onion plants.  That contains 96 onion plants.  The Yellow Granex onion is the hybrid that most people would recognize as the Vidalia sweet onion.  I got them out of the box and prepared the soil, using the onion planting guide provided.  We grow these each year and have had great success with them, usually able to grow all the onions we'll need all year.

The guide contains helpful information on how far apart to plant them, how deep, and how far apart the rows should be.  We've always found that if you follow the instructions, you'll have no problem growing delicious onions.  I got busy with the hoe working the soil and started planting.  I was racing the sun, but by the time the sun was dipping over the horizon, I had the job completed.

And then...  Then we got the news that we'll be experiencing a winter storm early next week, bringing temps to around 20 degrees.  Dixondale Farms helpfully sent out an email with instructions on preparing for extremely cold weather and freezing.  They suggest covering the plants with a tarp and watering thoroughly before a freeze as moist soil holds heat from the day and insulates the bulb and tender roots.  You can bet we'll be doing both of those things prior to the deep freeze.

Hopefully, we'll save the onions and will enjoy delicious onions this summer in yet another bumper crop.

Getting the Onions in the Ground

During the first week of January, a package arrived at our door that I had been expecting.  Late last year I ordered 3 bundles of onion sets from Dixondale Farms in Carizzo Springs, TX.  This is my third year planting onions from them and I highly recommend them.  I ordered the Short Day Sampler which contains Red Creole Onions, White Onions, and Texas 1015 Sweet Onions.  They came in a box with instructions to take them out of the box and put them in a cool, dry place until time to plant.

The cost is reasonable and you can order online.

They send instructions on planting and care in the box, but they also email you a wealth of information to help you grow the best onions possible. 

They advise to plant pretty quickly because the earlier you plant them - the bigger they get, but the wet conditions we've had prohibited that from happening.  This past weekend was the first semi-dry time between storms, so I figured I had better get them in the ground.  A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned how we were using "metal mulch" to crowd out weeds.  In the photo below I pulled aside two rows of tin to expose soil to start planting.  You can see the area to the right has tons of winter grass, proving the tin to be successful in keeping out weeds and providing soil ready for planting.

Planting onions is easy!  You simply separate each individual bulb, poke a hole with your finger, insert the onion set and cover.  You don't want to plant any deeper than 1 inch or the onion won't bulb properly.

You want to plant the onions 4 inches apart to give them room to expand.  As soon as the onions show growth, I'll mulch all around the onions with hay to discourage weed pressure that would crowd out the onions.

I was able to enlist Russ' help to plant.  I simply made a trench about an inch deep and poured some organic garden soil.  This wasn't really necessary, but the garden itself was still very wet.  Planting directly into the garden would have been planting directly in mud and not a good idea.

When all was said and done, we had five rows of onions planted.  They take about 110 days to mature. 

As I mentioned we planted 3 bunches of onions this year.  Last year we planted 2 bunches.  A bunch contains between 50 and 75 plants.  After we harvested last year's crop, we stored them indoors in an old milk crate and were able to keep them for 6 months!  We were very pleased with their production, taste, and storage.  Hopefully we'll have another bumper crop this year!

Harvesting Onions - 2017

We harvested some onions today.  As you can see in the center of the photo below there are onions in the center that are being taken over by sweet potato vines.  As the sweet potatoes are taking over the onion patch, it is okay, because the onions have signaled that they are ready to be harvested.

The way you know that it is time to harvest onions is that the tops of the onions will droop over.  As if to say, "I'm tired.  Pull me up."  So I oblige.  This is an indication that the onion's life cycle is nearing its end and no more energy will be devoted to growing the bulb.  About 20% of the onions had not fallen over, so I'm leaving them to grow for a while longer.  I'll keep my eye on them and will pull them as soon as they fall.  I want to give them a chance to grow to their full potential.

I began pulling onions and have to say that this year's crop is far better than last year's crop.  Most of the onions were larger, and although some were small, on average they were a nice size.  This is a Texas 1015 Sweet Onion I"m holding in my hand.

And this beauty right here is a Red Creole Onion.

I filled up our garden wagon with fresh-pulled onions and pulled them into the garage.

The wind was really blowing outside and it was perfect weather to start the onions drying/curing.  I want to maximize the air flow around the onions, so I got some old boards I salvaged from a chicken tractor that I'm in the process of demolishing, some roofing nails, and some hardware cloth, and I quickly constructed a drying rack and began to lay the onions on top.

Before long I had the drying rack built and all the 2017 onion harvest spread out to begin the drying process.  The onions smelled great and I can't wait to try them! But first we have to let them dry so that they will store.

After a day and a half, I got some clippers and clipped off the roots of each onion and then clipped off the onion tops, leaving about 3/4 of an inch of the onion tops.

I'll watch them closely while they dry as a sudden spike in humidity or rain could cause them to begin to get soft and rot.  If that starts to happen, I'll chop them up and freeze them.  I wasn't as prudent as I should have been during this same process a couple of years ago curing garlic and a lot of the garlic rotted.  I'll not make that mistake again.

In a couple of weeks the outer skin of the onions will dry and become like paper, as will the onion top itself.  At that point they'll be shelf-stable for a while and I'll put them in an onion sack and bring them inside.  I love to eat onions and can't wait to give these a try.  We'll definitely order these again next year.  If you are interested, I give two thumbs up to Dixondale Farms.  That's where I ordered my onion sets from.  You can learn more about Dixondale Farms by clicking HERE>

Planting Onions 2016

Onions.  I love onions.  If I could only grow them.  I had a failed experiment back a couple of years ago when I planted some Red Creole onion seeds.  They sprouted, grew about two inches tall, and then promptly died.  Then I discovered Dixondale Farms.  They are located in Carrizzo Springs, Texas and have been growing onions since 1913.  I think they probably have it all figured out.

Their website that I linked above has instructional videos about how to select the correct variety of onion for your location.  Since I live in the Deep South, I learned that I need to grow Short-Day Onions and they mature in 110 days.  Now, considering my previous onion-growing experience, rather than just jumping in the deep end of the pool, I'm gonna stick my big toe in and swirl it around first.  What I mean by that is I'm going to order the Short Day Sampler.  The Short Day Sampler contains about 60 onion plants, including a mixture of the 1015 Texas Sweet Onion, Texas Early White Onion, and the Red Creole Onion.  The cost was reasonable at $11.45.

I placed my order back in December and they were delivered in January.  I placed them in the refrigerator and waited (and waited and waited) for dry weather to arrive for planting.  Finally!  But first I had to prepare the soil.  Things get a little overgrown over the winter.

The (Future) Onion Patch

I pulled up the garlic chives that multiplied like rabbits and replanted them in another location.  Then I removed the trellis that our cucumbers grew on last year.  I pulled the weeds out, feeding them to the cows, goat, and chicken and then used a shovel to turn over the soil.

Working up the soil

I used a string to mark off a 24" wide row, digging a trench and throwing the soil from the trench on top of the row.  That soil was last year's compost - rich and full of organic matter.  Russ came behind me and worked up the soil in the row with a hoe until it was crumbly.  Then I used a bowhead steel rake to level out the row.

I sent Russ on an expedition to the hen house.  His mission was to return with a 5 gallon bucket on composted chicken manure from beneath their roosts.  While he was gone, I dug a four inch deep trench right smack dab in the middle of the row.

Row pulled, soil worked, trench dug (making progress!)

When he returned, he sprinkled the chicken manure into the trench.  This will be the fertilizer that the onions will feed on a little later.

Homegrown fertilizer

Then we covered the trench with dirt and used the steel rake to smooth out the row. It made for a real nice seed bed.

Onion Planting Time!

I retrieved the Short Day Sampler from the fridge and laid them out on the packing sheet.  If you look closely you can see the yellow onions, the white and the red ones. These are young onion plants that haven't bulbed yet.  In other words, they have a big head start over my failed onion crop from two years ago that I started from seed.

Short Day Sampler

Russ and I used the handle of a garden tool to make a hole and then planted the onion plants one inch deep, 

Planting the onions

We planted the onions on either side of the central trench that has the chicken manure fertilizer in it, ensuring that we were 6 inches away from the fertilizer trench.  We also planted them 4-6 inches apart from each other.  As the onions grow and their roots extend, they'll tap into the fertilizer and grow big, fat onions.

Our work here is done...

Then, we simply watered them in.

Grow, little onions, grow!

We'll keep them watered and weeded.  Actually, I'm going to mulch around them with hay as they get established to crowd out any weed competition.  We planted 42 onion plants.  If we're successful, I'll order a whole bunch more next year.