Deanna,

Oh my... that is a beauty! I've never been good at growing onions and gave up years ago.

Enjoy!

jt

Deanna, that IS a beauty, mine are still about the size of the teaspoon!

annie

Ya know, it's been a strange year.
I bought a little bundle of 50 Walla Walla onion starts at my local feed store. Teeny little things.
Some were just wimpy when I planted. Some are now about shallot sized. Some were ripped out by an unknown critter. Some look like the one above. And one of those lil' suckers is a red onion!
Ahhhhhhhhh..........the fun of gardening.

My momma always said "life is like a box of chocolates....."

Deanna

Deanna, I think your critter came to my garden after yours! About half our onions were pulled and bunches of peppers beheaded.

Probably the same deer that wait until the tomatoes are ripe and then much the front halves right off the vine. I can always tell which tomatoes are best because those deer are real gourmets.

Carol

Around here, some people love growing the Walla Walla. They usually sell the sets at a local Agway store.

It's very easy to grow small onions, just put some sets in the ground and wait. But growing large onions requires getting a several things right. I'm hoping to succeed this year.

If I understand correctly, you need transplants, not sets. They need to be set out early and fed well. They must be a variety suited to your latitude because they are day length sensitive. Weeds need to be kept out of the rows. Those are the critical points.

As I say, I have my fingers crossed because I missed on one of those points (early planting) so they may start to bulb up before the tops are fully grown. That would not produce large onions. But they are growing fast and looking good, so I'm hopeful.

Deanna, you are growing nice large onions. How do you do it?

Jim

Oh, my, indeed! How lovely. How will you eat it, Deanna? Do tell!

I have discovered the joy of growing leeks. Someone gave me a bunch of teeny little starts two years ago, and while I had never bothered much with root veggies before, since they were free (traded for leftover tomato seedlings I didn't need), I popped 'em in the ground.

They needed no feeding, survived my lacklustre weeding, and by the late fall had become large, luscious, lovely leeks. I put some in the next year, rather later, and they still did well, so they don't seem to be too picky about day length, either.

What I like best is that when the garden is pretty much all done otherwise --- the last tomatoes and peppers and squash picked, even the herbs petering out, the fall frosts killing most anything left, there are the leeks, waiting patiently, staying perfectly fresh until the day I use them. I pick the last ones usually in December, or whena deep snowfall is threatened.

Zabby, lazy gardener

This is my first year growing larger onions. I usually do just bunching (little green) onions.
I haven't done anything special. I have raised beds, so the soil is nice and loose, but I really just popped 'em in the ground and there they are! Some did well, some did not.
Probably helps that I don't live all that far from Walla Walla...(grin). Bred for the northwest, maybe?

And just so you know Zabby, I sliced nice big thick slices and layed them on top of a meatloaf to carmelize! Mmmmm....
Deanna

"...just popped 'em in the ground..."

Plants or sets?

Jim

Oh, Deanna, that sounds great. I'll be right over for dinner!

I do think you are right that those big, sweet Walla Wallas are particularly suited to the northwest. (I had a friend in college from Oregon who had never had one of the smaller, sharper onions that are typical in the midwestern town where we went to school; she was shocked and horrified that any of us would eat such a harsh-tasting thing!)

I've never grown onions other than leeks before, but this year planted some little thin ones from seed. I was going to say "green onions" but they are actually supposed to be purple, this variety.

Then, when I was trellising up the peas that I planted next to them, I absentmindedly "weeded" most of the little onion shoots out, having forgotten I had planted them there and thinking (NOT thinking, really) that they were grass. DOH!

There are a few left, however (luckily, I'm not a very careful weeder). Hopefully I'll have enough for a pretty addition to a salad...
Z

Jim: Plants. They were about 5-6" tall and maybe half (or less) the diameter of a pencil. A bundle of 50 cost me around $2 at my feed store.

Zabby: You're welcome for dinner any time, but that meatloaf is looooooonnnnggg gggooooonnnneee!! :+)

Deanna

Beautiful onion!

Jimster, this is only my second year growing onions, so I am certainly not an expert, but.... here is what I have learned. I visited the alliums forum on GW, and learned that THE place to buy your onions is Dixondale Farms. I ordered four varieties and so far they are WAY better than what I had last year. Last year's were "sets" from the local garden center, this year's were plants. I also learned that adding sulfate to the soil should make them sweeter (I haven't figured out yet whether or not that is true for me). As you said, they must be varieties suited to your area - long day or short day, here in North Dakota we are long day. I think that's all I've learned but, as I say, they are doing much much better than last year.

Ann

I've used Dixondale several times too. Also get their fertilizer for onions.

I'm surprised that sulfate would make an onion sweet. My understanding is that sulfur is what produces pungency in an onion. But I could be mistaken.

Anyway, I like a sharp tasting onion. Sweetness is not what I'm after in an onion. That's what apples are for.

Jim

Hmmm, now I'm wondering if I misunderstood. Because I agree with you - it seems like adding sulfate would make it sharper. So, let's agree that I'm not sure on the reason for sulfate. What I do know is that the growing guidelines provided with my onions from Dixondale say to add sulfate every three weeks. The type of sulfate depends on your soil conditions. I have slightly alkaline soil and add ammonium sulfate.

So far I am liking these onions (the Dixondale ones) much better than the "generic' ones from the garden center. They are also growing quite large. I have four varieties and will do a taste testing later in the season.

Ann

Sulfur will increase the strength of an onion. Vidalias are grown in soil that has an extremely low sulfur content. Ever crunch down on a nice big, fresh, strong onion? I did, and couldn't taste anything else for about 4 hours aftewards. Vidalias are eating onions and can be eaten raw. Similar to a spanish, but spanish has a bit more onion strength flavor.