Thanks podster I planted garlic in october last year and it did fine Onions are really a new crop for me.
Taters & Onions
You can amend the soil with all kinds of compost, mulch, different minerals as much as you want but nothing will break up clay soil as much as Gypsum. No need to work it into the soil, just sprinkle on to, it works wonders.
Last year, we purchased onion sets and we were late, so they didn't do anything. I pulled them up and they were good for nothing. I guess when I pulled them, I either missed a few or the tops had broken off or something because after the deep freeze in early Jan, I went out to check on the beds and found 3 or 4 onions growing away. The freeze didn't faze them one bit!
OK I guess I can plant them now!
Onions should be planted on Jan. first, in Texas. The longer you wait the greater the chance of going into hot dry weather before they are finished growing.
Our plant date for onions is Feb 10-March something or other.
That is a very short season for onions. They will never get to full size, if planted that late. I will be eating onions by March. Tater on the other hand will get bit if they sprout before the last frost. I plant taters on Valentine's day and last year they did get a bit of a set back.
The past couple of years, I've planted my onions the first week in February here in Brown county, and they were ready to harvest the second week of July, if that helps any. They were small, but keep very well - some are just now starting to sprout but they are still good. Those were mild winters. This winter, the weather and work are keeping me from getting them into the ground even though I got an earlier shipment, so am hoping I can still get them planted this coming week.
Tina
Wonder why there is a discrepancy with planting dates
I think we're in a different zone.
I think the difference is that so many people think that onions are a hot whether plant, they are not. They will live in hot whether but they do not grow that much. Everyone keeps asking if other peoples onions came through the bad freeze we had a few weeks ago. The answer seems to be the record breaking freeze did nothing. To keep onions growing into July you will need to be watering a bunch most years or they will stop growing all together. If you plant early you seldom need to water during the Winter and early Spring. I have grown many an onion and only watered then the day I planted. Everyone keep saying they can't wait to play in the garden, go play with your onions.
Ditto Ken. I have a perennial bed of bunching onions that I leave in ground year around. They start new growth in Oct. and shake off freezes all winter. In spring they will bloom and in summer die back to the ground. The garlic is the same. The reason I mention that is, this is the normal growing cycle for onions. So while we "play with our onions", we can be grazing on the green onions as well. The reason onions are planted when they are is that is when the sets arrive in the stores. Just a pod opinion.
My grandpa always planted his onions in December. So I usually follow his advice and have had good luck in the past. Was a little late this year...planted Jan. 01.
Not only onions to play with...you've got lettuce, broccoli, cabbage, radishes, and a bunch of plants that can start now. Spring is just around the corner and before you know it, the heat is going to send all the greens bolting.
OK heres the question we have here. If I planted onions in December and they are still too small in June can I let them grow over another winter or are they a 1-season plant? Can I let some grow for 3 years? I asked several old-timers out here and nobody knows....
Thanks!
If you plant onions in Dec. and they are still small by June you have bad soil that needs help. I am a compost man myself but you can get help from a bag. There is no reason other than that for your onions to still be small in that amount of time.
I planted my Egytian walking onions last part of Nov-first part of Dec. I'd have to go home and check which to be sure. I thought I'd lost them through the freezes we've had as I've only ever planted them in the spring in the past. We'll I checked on them this past weekend (actually the dogs did and I went after them). The tops died back but the part in the ground looks fine and appears to have been growing. By Sunday, which was a good sunny day, the tops were coming back strong. By late March they should be some fine walking onions! I've learned my lesson. I'm planting onions as soon as I can from now on! The garlic was planted at the same time and looked pretty sorry too. It looks to be coming back as well. These were all planted in a lasagna bed I've been experimenting with. I think the only thing I would do differently is to cover them with hay and a row cover maybe when the freezes came to keep the tops protected maybe. Should have known better being a transplanted northern gardener but there is a big different between 16 degrees above and 16 degrees below zero. I thought I could get away with only just a grass cuttings for mulch protection. Plus I hated reaching into the deep straw cover and finding that mice had set up shop--EEK =D!
May I suggest you be careful reaching into mulch when it warms up. Snakes tend to lurk there as long as mice (one of their food sources) reside there too.
I have never mulched the garlic or onions, maybe leaving the fallen fall crop of leaves scattered on them but not intentionally mulched. Does anyone else mulch these plants?
I mulch both but mainly for weed control. I have an endless supply of leaves for compost so I use large amounts in and around the garden. It is easier to cover weeds with another layer of compost than to pull them.
Double EEKK! ;~)