It's getting close to planting season (hooray!), so I'd like some input from those of you fellow Texans that have had success growing onions (from plants) and taters. What varieties do you recommend? I know I'm going to get some 1015 onions, but would like advise on other varieties. What about potatoes? What kind do best here?
Taters & Onions
I do not remember the varieties just the dates. Onions on New Years Day and taters on Valentine's day.
Taters by Valentines day here too.
I leave a multiplier onion in the ground year around. Started mine from plants and now, will dig a clump and spread those plants for more. They do not make a large onion bulb like some but are tasty. Also known as a potato or bunching onion.
I have some Yukon Gold that I got in a deal back in October...will be planting them Jan. 15th. I usually plant Red La Soda on Valentines day. Ususally get 1015 onions from the feed store but, this year I ordered some from Dixondales. Lots of talk about them in some of the forums. I hope to get some nice fat plants to start the first of Jan. It's hard to find even pencil sized plants in the feed stores.
Maggi says we planted russet potatoes and they just didn't do much. We had raised beds with lots of good organic matter. We could not get the Yukon Gold. We also planted a red that did great but don't know the name.
This year I am growing potatoes in hay. I am getting some heirloom Purple Majesty and Huckleberry (red inside and out) and will be planting in January. I have a lot of leftover hay from the round bales we feed and there isn't much else to do with it so we are making some rings out of field fencing, loosening the soild inside, then planting in a layer of hay. You keep adding hay and can reach in the ring to find potatoes without pulling up the plants. Did this years ago when the kids were little and they loved it.
Can't wait to see how it goes.
rouxcrew I am intrested in this method of growing potatos I plan to do the same but with sweet taters I am sure it'll work just as well. You said you just added more hay to make it grow higher and produce more tatars right? Thats what I am looking for and do I plant my sweet potatos in January also. I have never grown them and I am curious, I am starting a strawbale garden this year also I am going to grow most of my garden in bales but, I have heard about growing potatos in lasanga garden and this is what I want to try.....rucky
Rucky, here's a very long, but very informative post on growing potatoes under straw.
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/937306/
Then there's this article that kinda started the whole thing. http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/435/
I'll be growing my potatoes in a large container that my DH originally built to hold our compost pile. It's been 2 years and the thing hasn't seen service, so I am going to put it to good use! I've ordered 1/2 lb each of 4 different varieties of potatoes: Purple Viking, Kennebec, Red Norland, and Banana fingerlings. I'll start them in a leaf, dirt, compost mixture, then add either more leaves or straw as the plants grow upward.
Here's my container.
Forgot to mention that you plant Irish potatoes around Valentine's Day and Sweet Potatoes later in the spring. The Sweet Potatoes can handle the heat while the Irish potatoes cannot.
It is a very easy method. The best way is to build a wire mesh "cage" for your potatoes. We always have pieces of field fencing that are too short for anything but you could cut a wire panel into four pieces and wire it together or use chicken wire. The cage simply keeps the hay up and around the plants so that the roots stay covered. I also stake my cages down, I use t-posts to keep it from leaving.
If you use fencing, cut a piece about 5' long and shape it into a circle overlapping the ends, using wire, zip ties or twine to hold the ends together.
Put a thick layer of hay in the bottom of the cage. About 1 1/2 to 2' deep. Set your prepared potatoes on this hay spacing them apart evenly. You can use up to 8 in one cage the size I suggested. Cover them with about 3" of hay.
Water the hay daily. Water in the morning so that the plants have time to dry before evening. Every week add a few more inches of hay to the plants, but don't totaly cover them. The taller the plants grow, the more potatoes you get.
When the plants start to flower you can harvest the "new" potatoes. Or you can wait until the plant dies back.
Rouxcrew ~ have you ever grown sweet potatoes in this method?
Potatoes grow from the stem. Sweet potatoes grow from a root and the tops are vines so I am not sure that this method would work. I have never tried it, when I grew sweet potatoes I just kept the vines in a tight area of hilled ground.
Thanks for the info I found it all very intresting I have a raised bed garden that I have had great sucess with year after year. But it is a small area and I am retired now and have more time and I want to try some different ways of gardening. I will try potatos the way you suggested and I will plant sweet potatos in the raised garden. I am planning on keeping peppers in the raised beds also but everything else will go to hay bales. The bales I am usimg now for strawberries is coastal bermuda so far its working fine. I am not sure if its the right kind of hay but it's all I could find. I am looking forward to planting soon if it'll just quit raining for a while. Thats what we call Texas snow. everything here is soggy and muddy. Maybe it'll get better soon. It is after all a new fresh year....rucky
Space is at a premium for me, so I would ask, which one variety would earn precious real estate for you? I'm not sure if I'm talking about yield here, flavor, or "gourmet" potatoes that would cost more at the grocery, so I leave that up to you. I'm just interested in how other people decide what potato is "worth it" to you.
And, do you all have a favorite place where you get the potato sets?
Thanks!
Also, where can you get smaller quantities like 1/2 pound or less? The seed catalog I looked at (have only received one so far) will only sell in 2-lb lots.
Red potatoes are more productive. The planting guide for my area recommends Red Lasota or Red Norland. I ordered from 1/2 lb quantitees from Ronniger's, http://www.ronnigers.com/index.html . You might check at feed stores or garden centers for some, too.
Thanks, stephanietx! Red potatoes are also better for those who have blood sugar (diabetes) issues, as they supposedly don't cause the blood sugar spikes that more floury white potatoes do. So, win/win.
Thanks for the website too. I'll check it out.
Our main onion grower here normally plants his onions on Jan 1 but we were in the grip of old man winter, so he started planting them yesterday. He has a bumper crop every year and gets them from Wilhite Seed in Poolville, TX. They're online and are shipping now. Don't know what variety he grows. He probably tries different ones.
Stephanie, I've bought my onion plants from Dixondale the past two years. They have a good selection of short-day onions, which are best for us, and of intermediate day varieties, which would probably also work for you. I am trying the 1015s for the first time this year, along with their new Hybrid Southern Belle Red. I will grow Candy and White Bermuda again (grew them last year).
As far as pricing goes, our local produce market has the least expensive ones, I think they are a dollar or two a bunch at Sligers.
I LOVE growing onions! they are the easiest thing I grow, easiest to harvest and store, and we get the most enjoyment out of them, since we use them every day. Mine were larger this year than last, and I am going to try fertilizing every two weeks this year to see if I can get them to grow larger. But even small ones have great flavor and keep well.
Tina
~waving at Texasflora. We are in the same neck of the woods. I bought my asparagus plants from Womack's - and oh boy this spring will be the 3rd year and we can eat them~ yum!
Tina
Thanks for this thread. I hadn't thought of growing onions, but papapablo, you are making them sound very yummy...plus they'd be organic. I will be checking the stores this w/e.
When I was in the nursery week before last, they hadn't gotten their onions and potatoes yet. I need to check with them again and see if they've gotten them.
Our local hardware store has onion sets--didn't see any starter potatoes.
I'm not sure how to grow onions from sets (the little bulbs). Here, they make scallions but never turn into large bulbs. I have to put out the little plants. One reason I started ordering mine was because the local places didn't have them in until February. Still, February is not too late!
stephanietx posted a good thread over on Beginner Vegetables with a link to an onion planting guide.
Tina
I bought my 1015 at Marshall Grain today. In regards to companion planting, are there some plants that will/won't grow well next to onions?
I bought mine at the local nursery (Mike's) today, too!
Here are a few good sites on companion planting. The last one is from the book, "Carrots Love Tomatoes" which I've currently got checked out from the library.
http://www.gardenguides.com/410-good-amp-bad-companions-vegetables.html
http://www.ghorganics.com/page2.html#ONIONS:
http://luv2garden.com/companion.html
Wonderful resource! Thanks.
When are you going to plant them? On Dixondale's site, It says 6 weeks before last frost. What does that mean for 8a............
I don't know. LOL I'll need to check my planting guide when I get home.
I see the DH - kenboy - has already posted to this thread. I did find Yukon Gold taters along with reds and blues today at Lowes. I also found onion sets (bulbs) for less than the little plants. I had bought 2 bunches of the plants at WalMart last week - I think it was 50 for $3. The onion sets were 80 for $1.98 - so I will be able to see the difference in growth this year between the 2 different ways of starting them. I also found shallots, which (come to find out) I am getting in late, but we'll see how that goes. I also got a package of Mary Washington asparagus crowns labeled as 2 year old plants. We have a few asparagus plants that the male Pyrenees did NOT dig and destroy last year.
Anna, according to my planting guide, the planting window for onions is Feb 10-March 5
Do any of you have soil dry enough to work now? I'm in the blacklands, and there is no way to work it now. I think at times I'll miss my sandy soil.
LOL... I just put in a new 8' x 10' x 2 1/2' deep fish pond and you should see my yard. The tractor ruts are a foot deep. I tried to smooth it out yesterday, but will have to wait a week or so until it dries out some more if we don't get any more rain.
Don
Stephanie, I was reading your blog and noticed your onions. I thought I read that the onion starts should not be put in dirt prior to planting. Mine have been sitting around since I bought them...hope they will be ok.
My yard is a soggy wet clay mess! Haven't seen it this bad since I moved here six years ago. I am waiting til it dries and warms some before begining the clean up process. Lots of dead things to cut and clear away, including some of my favorite cacti. But I keep thinking of all the new things I can plant. Does anyone have mediterranean fan trees? I have one I bought late on sale and am wondering where to plant and how hardy it might be.
C
Anna, at the nursery, they put them in some kind of sand, maybe lava sand or something. I just stuck them in the dirt I had so they wouldn't dry out. Now I'll have to go investigate on what to do with them. I'll be planting them in a couple of weeks and I don't want dead plants! LOL
If you have heavy clay soil what you need is Gypsum. It brakes up the clay on a molecular level and allows water to permeate through. It also makes it much easier to dig in. Cost is about $8. for a 40 Lb. bag.
I make slightly raised beds to compensate. Double digging and amending as best I can but ultimately the soil is very heavy clay.
C
The guy at the store said not to worry if they weren't green at the ends when I bought them...............could be they are forgiving no matter what you do...hopefully
I have had onions in the ground for a while now I planted them along with garlic in Dec. The freeze didn't bother them. I don't know why but I thought it would be ok. so far so good.
Rucky ~ I leave both garlic and onions in ground year around. Your instinct was correct, they will be o.k.