I received the Dixondale catalog today too. I loved the cover photo, especially the big dog posing with the onions and the people.

I flipped through it right away to see if there was anything new.

This year I grew all three types, and they all performed well. For short days, I grew the sampler.which was Red Creole, Texas Early White and Texas 1015Y. For intermediate days, I grew the sampler, which was Candy, Red Candy Apple and Superstar. For the long day types, I grew two new ones called Red River (considered a long intermediate day variety or a short long day variety) and Highlander, which the catalog noted also will grow in intermediate day areas. Most years I only grow short day and intermediate day types, but couldn't resist trying both Red River and Highlander since Dixondale said they ought to grow well here. They did. So, even though I am almost an entire state south of the long day dividing line, they grew for me anyhow. I really liked that with that many varieties growing, I harvested onions from May through July. It also made curing them easier since the harvest was spread out over a longer period of time. About the time the earlier ones were cured and going into storage (or going straight to salsa), I was harvesting the next batch and putting them on the tables to cure. Both Highlander and Red River produced huge onions, but that partly was because since they stayed in the ground for so long, they benefited from the very heavy June and July rainfall we received this year.

I haven't done much garden clean-up, but with the cooler weather this week, it probably is time to start. First I have to dig all the sweet potatoes, and then I can work on finishing up the harvest of the remaining fruits and veggies, and cleaning up their beds as I take them out. The only thing not ready to harvest yet is a bunch of green pumpkins that formed from September blooms. I don't know if they'll get to mature or not, but we are only supposed to go into the 40s at night this coming weekend, so they should be able to live a while longer.

I also received catalogs today from Gardener's Supply and Peaceful Valley Farm Supply but I haven't had time to look at them yet. I was too busy drooling over photos of onions much bigger than the ones I produce here in my drought-plagued area.

Dawn

Got mine too! I'm just now having to start chopping and freezing the leftovers that are sprouting. This wasn't my best onion year...but far from my worst. I tried several new ones and learned I'll be like you, Carol, going back to my faves.

It's crazy that I'm excited to see the garden catalogs start along with the Holiday ones. This one is the first and only so far....but I believe my mail box will be full come late December/January.

Paula