That looks great Rick

Rick, I think it looks good also. Its a wonder that you have anything at all considering the heat we had this summer. My hottest day was 108, although it only last an hour of two, but we had many days over 100.

Your onion look much better than mine, do you start with seeds of new sets each year? I have tried to take some of my bunching onions, and just cut them off and replanting the lower inch of two to see if the quality improves, I have not had any to regrow to the size to use yet, but they seem to be regrowing. I will try the same thing this coming spring and see if I have better looking onions.

I got to wondering just how many onion that I have at this point, so went out and counted, and it looks to be about 450, which is way too many. A lot of this stuff I plant is just to have something to do, there is no way Madge and I can eat everything I grow.

Larry I don't plant onions from seed . I buy the sets , " the little bulbs" in the fall when there're available and also in the spring along with the plant bundles.

Rick

Rick, I was surprised that the Co-op had such a large supply of sets this fall. I was also surprised that they buy some of them locally.

In the early spring I tend to plant many more onions than I need around mid/late Feb. .I usually buy a selection of whatever varieties of plant bundles that my local feed store has ( They usually have all the usual Dixon Dale varieties ) . The problem I have is storing all of them and the rodents carrying them off.

Rick

I use to be able to get Dixondale onions around here. I expect that they were leftovers or 2nds, and cheaper than Bonnie, but I liked them better. The Dixondale were small, had a higher count, and seemed to be less apt to bolt. The Dixondale became harder, and harder to find. I had to buy them at the mom and pop stores in the smaller town along the Arkansas and Oklahoma border, but for the past several years Bonnie is all I can find. Bonnie has about taken over everything in this area, that is one reason I try to start plants at home. I don't know anywhere I can buy onion seeds now except online. I can buy small seed packs off the racks in the big box stores, but the selection is small, and the prices are high.

I don't normally buy sets, but I am trying use a cheaper way to supply onions and garlic for the family, plus I am trying to stir up an interest in the kids and grand kids in growing food. I have always thought that I could buy food cheaper than I could grow it because I don't have the equipment and technology, nor the type of land needed, but I enjoy growing food, and the time may come when food is hard to get.

I still have around 400 onion sets to save till spring. I can't under stand how I could have bought as many sets as I did for a cheaper price than a bundle of onions.

I have had a good day, I got to work in the garden some, then take some greens and sweet potatoes to my aunt and uncle, and stay for a short visit, then come home and brush hog 3 food plots, as well as cleaning up some of the pond bank area. I will be seeing fewer and fewer of these days until next spring, but I am still miles behind on my to-do list.

Thanks for starting the thread, Rick.

Larry, do your aunt and uncle live close to you?

Onions. Something that is used so very often in our cooking. It's difficult to keep the bulbing ones fresh in storage. If only we all had root cellars or cold rooms.

Some years are better than others. This isn't a good year for storage onions. We had some late June/early July rainstorms. That rain came in sideways on the shop porch and kept the onions a bit damp even though the fans were going on them constantly. It is hugely annoying to spend a lot of effort on things and then toss them in the compost because they're rotten. It feels like a giant waste of time. Precious time. (That is really why I like to only grow what I know we'll eat.)

I've moved them out of Ethan's room into the utility room now, since it's cooled down. When I have some of that precious time, I need to sort through them because some are rotting and beginning to smell. The past couple of weeks, I've grabbed a few and chopped off the good portions and put them in the refrigerator to use during the week. There's a few in the freezer too.

That needs to be done this week because we're hosting Thanksgiving...and no one wants a rotting onion smelling house when hosting a party.

I'm down to 2 cardboard trays of potatoes. Luckily they don't smell. I'm trying to eat through them as fast as I can. But, there's just two of us here now.

Does anyone have any bougie turnip recipes?

This weekend, I did some watering and separated the horseradish plants. I'm hoping to offload some of them. There were about a dozen crammed into one large pot. Maybe 4 of the roots were a decent sized. I put the biggest back into the main pot and hopefully will have a large root next fall. I'm going to pick up a root at Natural Grocers this year for the fire cider.

Other than that, picked the goji berries and pecans.

Made a beautiful salad this morning from garden things and will be eating it for lunch today.

What's everyone doing for Thanksgiving?

I have no idea what we will be doing for Thanksgiving, normally we go to my daughters, and Madge's family will come here, but trying to work out the days can be a challenge. Our family keeps getting larger, and everybody has different places to go, but we will try to work in a date that is good fr the most people. It seems that some don't want to be with the others, so we may have to set 2 or 3 dates here at the house.

Jennifer, I can't cure and keep onion long either, that is the reason I am playing around with the Egyptian walking, and the bunching onions. A few days ago we were going to have greens and I went out and pulled a clump of 10 bunching onions and cleaned them and replanted about an inch of the bottom of the onion back into the onion bed. I noticed today that the stumps are starting to grow again. Today Madge went out and pulled 2 of the bunching onions to put in a meatloaf, she did not save the bottom of the onion for me, but that is okay, at least she is using the stuff out of the garden. We had turnips, carrots, and sweet potato pie along with the meatloaf for lunch today. I feel that we are better stewards of the land when we use it to produce out food.

My daughter and family are taking me to Lubbock for thanksgiving. I can’t wait to get smothered with 7 grandbabies. I am looking forward to having 9 days off of work. I can not decide y’all. Should I try to raise some greens or wait until spring. I love salads.

It's a hard call with the shorter daylight now. Might try to plant some spinach and overwinter it if it'll come up. Might have better luck at it down south there in TX where you're at.

There's a guy on the vegetable forum that 's preaching about soaking seeds now to germinate, "Dan in the Dirt" , he's in central TX.

Rick

I might give that a try. I soaked my okra once and it came up in 2 days.

I am not having any luck getting collards, mustard, and lettuce up. A couple of years ago I planted lettuce and radishes late and placed clear plastic over the area and still had a long time getting them up. Even when the plants came they would hardly grow, but early spring the plants did fair, but I think I would have had better luck If I had waited. I did get an earlier crop, but I am not sure it was worth it, but it was fun and something to do.

I would like to start up my light shelf in the center bedroom, but I think we may have company during the holidays.

Jennifer, I love being outside of the box.

I have been out in the south yard using our small mower catching grass clippings to go around the onions and garlic. I know I am picking up millions of grass seed and tossing in the garden, but I already have henbit all around the onions and garlic, so I cant win anyway.

The mower I am using is the one Madge likes to use around her flowers and flower beds, but It is a back and hip killer for me. It can go faster than I can, but it is the only mower we have that has a grass catcher. I know that Madge would catch some grass clipping for me it I ask her to, but I think she dose to much around here anyway.

Madge thinks that I plant too much, and she is right, but she has no room to talk, she apples on the stove now to make apple butter when we get back from the doctor.

Larry have you ever heard of winter sowing? It was developed by a lady named Trudi here on garden wb. I use gallon milk and water jugs. I have had amazing success. The plants are so much more resilient.

Kim, I have fooled around with winter sowing a little, but not enough to get good at it. What I would really like to have is a greenhouse, but it's too late in life for me to invest in a greenhouse.-

I am satisfied with the luck I have with my light shelf and heating mats, but I am not satisfied with my limited space, but I am almost 80 years old, and with health issues, I don't want to invest a lot of money into something that I wont get to use much.

I would love to have a greenhouse as well. I have always looked at my situation is very temporary so I didn’t wanna invest in some thing that I would have to leave. Winter sewing is works perfect for me because I have no space in the house for a light shelf. I tried that one year and it was so difficult to live with that shelf set up for months. I usually do 16 to 20 water jugs full of plants and this year I will be prepared to cover with insect netting from the go. I lost so many things last year to grasshoppers that I’m not willing to take any chances this year.

Kim, I started building a multi-purpose 10' 10' building on the south side of my shop about 3 years ago to serve as a greenhouse/ potting shed, but when I got my RTV, I started using it as a garage to park the RTV in. I have enough building material to go a long way on building a garage for the RTV, and should do that, but my wife sure dose not like the idea of me climbing on anything, and I am really not able, and it gripes my to ask for help with anything.

I had to stop at the Farmers Co-op yesterday on the way home from the doctor. I found a package of Nantes Coreless carrots, I had never heard of them, so I had to buy a package. I don't know why I bought the carrots because I have a terrible time getting carrots to come up.

Well It has warmed up to 44 degrees, I think I can go out and work on the garden for a while.

Larry I don’t like the idea of you climbing things either. Nantes are a great carrot. When you plant water them in real good and put a board on them. Not sure if you’ve tried this but it works better than a sheet or cardboard. These beautiful days are spoiling me. 65-70 and cool nights. Love it

It's about to change . get ready for a shock.

I'm hearing arctic air after Thanksgiving.

Rick

Rick that is what I heard too. That is why I am enjoying every second with my door wide open, working outside in the garden. Then when it turns cold I can stay inside and make jam and jelly for the kids for Christmas. I found a leak under the sink Just as I was doing a large load of dishes and jars. Apparently it’s been there for a while and with all the junk piled up on didn’t see it. Which is why I’m getting rid of all the stuff. No place for anything to hide like a spider

Kim, junk just seems to follow me home, I seem to have way more than my share. I have thought many times about my junk draws and hidey holes, I even have a junk row in my garden. It is hard for me to throw anything away, I just stick it some where and stumble over it for the rest of my life.

Rick, I watch Ryan Hall pretty often, He is talking about the nasty weather headed our way, but it looks like a lot of others could be hit harder than we will be.

Larry , I'm just going through a list of things to do before the bad winter hits.

Finish winterizing the house and tuning up my trucks.

Had a deer run out in front of me early Sat morning on the way over east. I was going slow enough that I was able to slam my brakes and miss him. It was a buck, antlers and all. Sure could have ruined me if I had hit him. I'm afraid one of these days my luck's going to run out.

Rick

Rick, I have a lot of things that I need to do also, but I am always behind.

There was a lady hit a buck in front of my place a few weeks ago, a guy showed up shortly and picked up the deer, and I went out a little after that and picked up car parts. Madge talked to the lady that was driving the car, so I don't think she was hurt, but I am sure it cost quite a lot to repair the car.

I have not put in any food plots this fall, I am not sure if that has made the deer problem better of worse, but last year I had most of the food plots 1/4 mile off the hwy, but I really think that the dry weather had pulled them off the hills and down into the valley.