Well it would have been better to continue this on your original post so that info would be available. I linked it below.

The problem may not be your soil tilth/consistency, though a soil test is definitely of benefit, but in the soil temps and the type of onions.

Peppers, not a root crop of course, can be difficult to grow up north because of their need for very warm soil temps (75-80 degrees) and your shorter growing season. But it is possible and the discussion here called "Growing peppers up north" has some good tips in it - particularly pre-warming your soil using black plastic mulch and using early varieties that do well in a shorter growing season.

Onions are a different matter. Are you trying to grow from seed, plants, or sets? In case you don't know, onions come in classes: long-day and short-day varieties and their bulb growth is directly linked to the hours of daylight they are exposed to. Up north you have to grow long day varieties and the further north you are the more important that becomes. You can find a great deal of info on this by just Googling long-day onions. Short-day varieties won't produce bulbs up north in less than 3 years which leads me to believe you are using the wrong class of onions.

And planting time and methods vary greatly depending on which type - sets, plants, from seeds - you are trying to grow.

If you are having difficulty with any other root crops besides onions (radishes, beets, carrots, potatoes, turnips) they will provide much better clues than onions about any actual soil problems you may have.

Hope this helps.

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: Root crop problems - Part 1

Thanks Dave for the enlightenment!
I did not realize there was a difference in onions. I am an avid flower gardener but am just venturing into veggies.
I just bought some red onion sets from the local hardware store and they can't tell me what variety they are. Figures!!!
I will look into this though! Thanks again!