quasar's Blog
Quasar's Blog
Jul 15, 2007 | 8:18 AM PST
Usually lettuce and onion sets are the first things to go into my garden, and here in zone 6a that is around mid to late March. Here on July the 15th we are still enjoying the last of the green onions. The tops are long gone but the little bulbs are very tasty in salads.
A few years ago several people were made ill and some died from eating in a Mexican restaurant not far from here. After the investigations it was determined that the toxins came from green onions served in some of their dishes. Since then we have not purchased a single green onion from a grocery store. For one thing they aren't labeled and there is no way to tell where they come from.
So I have been trying to figure out a way to have green onions longer through the growing season. As you may or may not know the little onion sets are not available for much of the year, usually just a few months in the spring. Even places like Burpees will tell you, if you order at certain times of the year, that they are not in season.
This year during the spring I bought a couple of extra pounds of sets and stuck them in the back of the refrigerator. A couple of weeks ago I pulled them out, they looked o.k so I stuck in few in a container just to see what would happen.
They are all coming up and I believe I am going to have green onions for our salads the rest of this year. If the ones in the picture do all right I will plant the rest in mid August for the Fall garden.
This may not be news to some of you advanced gardeners but for me I am blazing new territory. And I know I can grow my own sets from onion seed but I haven't had a lot of success the times that I have tried to grow onions from seed. It's just so much easier with the sets bought from the store. 
4 Member Comments
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Jul 15, 2007 | 8:48 AM PST
I did the same thing with Pea seeds. I bought a few extra pks of seed so I will have them to sow this fall. Last year I had a terrible time finding any. All of the time I learn new things....which helps me realize how much more I need to learn! Last week I planted some onion seed...new to me. Some of them have started to come up, so I will have some green onion tops in a month or so from the thinnings. BTW why are the onions planted in...part of a garbage can? |
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Jul 15, 2007 | 9:07 AM PST
Yes that is part of an old garbage can. I sawed the top half off and sunk it in the ground. It is part of my never ending quest to find containers in which to plant. My wife thinks it looks junky but I am just interested in growing things. My garden soil isn't the best in the world and I find it easier to control moisture and weeds in containers. I could go out and purchase much more attractive looking containers but you know you can just spend and spend and part of the gardening equation is save a little money by growing your own. Last edited by quasar on July 15th at 9:10 AM. |
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Jul 15, 2007 | 9:20 AM PST
Sounds like a good solution to the problem then. |
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Jul 15, 2007 | 7:34 PM PST
i planted green onion from seed a few times last year and they looked thin and sickly for a long time but grew very suddenly and rapidly at the end. This happened at different times of the year. i found that green onion from seed takes quite a long time but they survived through many frosts so at least there is that. do you have all-year varieties? |
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