The Next Crop Planted in January

January marks another important time in the garden.  Time to plant onions.  On January 1st we plant tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant into seed pots for transplant into the garden later on.  On January 2nd, we plant onions directly into the garden.  In December I ordered from Dixondale Farms in Carizzo Springs, Texas two Short Day Samplers which consist of Creole Red Onions, Texas White Onions and Texas 1015 Sweet Onions.  I also ordered 1 bundle of Yellow Granex Onions.

They came in the mail quickly, and I opened the box.  Most of the onions are the diameter of a pencil or less.  They arrived healthy.

Planting the onions takes a little work.  First, you dig a trench four inches wide and four inches deep.  To this trench, you apply fertilizer.  I applied ammonium sulfate to the bottom of the trench at a rate of 1/2 cup per 10 linear feet.  You can see it in the bottom of the trench below.  

Then I covered the trench up.  Then I dug a shallow trench 6 inches on either side of the fertilizer trench and planted the onions 1 inch deep and 4 inches apart.  I use a nifty digging knife that my son Russ bought me.  It is sharp and wide and has measurements engraved on the blade.  It is perfect for planting onions.

It was an involved process and not kind to the back, but we got the job done.

When all was said and done, I had four and a half rows of onions planted in the garden!  I went back and counted them and found that I had just planted 296 onions!  That's what we planted last year.

Tricia let me know that we ran out of onions today from the crop we harvested from the summer.  She had to go to the grocery store and buy 3 lbs of onions to cook supper.  Well, we were able to eat off of the harvested onions for 6 1/2 months.  That's not too bad.  And we have onions in the ground that we'll harvest this summer.  I checked on them today and they are already putting on new growth.  It looks like they are well established.

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.