Time for Onions in Southeast Texas

We've been working the garden beds over since mid fall with green cover crops of peas and beans and agri- mustard being turned in to the soil. Layers of mulched leaves cover most of the garden as well as chicken poop and our homemade, rich and beautiful compost being worked in. 

The milestone of the organic garden is getting your soil nutrient rich as deep as possible. Earning some beneficial nematodes and earthworms takes a whole lot of shovel and wheelbarrow time. A lot of onions will be planted in the raised beds this year, as well as in other parts of the garden.

Our onion starts arrived on December 29th. They were shipped to us by Dixondale Farms located in Carrizo Springs Texas in only 2 days after they were ordered. Dixondale specializes in onions and have been in business since 1913. 

They have a fantastic planting guide to help you know exactly when to start your onions going by your zip code and then they help you determine which varieties are best for your area by mapping out an onion zone for the United States. 

We could have actually been planting our onions in mid December because of our zip code on the Gulf Coast. Because of being in such a severe drought for such a long time, we decided to hold on a bit for some rain. Our zone calls for growing the short day varieties of onions. 

However, this year we are experimenting a bit by ordering a couple intermediate day varieties as well. The storage is actually longer for intermediates so we thought we would at least try and see what they do. Our short day varieties keep stored for about 3 months. I'll keep you updated on the experiment. 

We also are planting Lancelot Leeks, which are not daylight sensitive and can be planted in any zone. They are so pretty in the garden mixed in with all the lovely spring blooming flowers. Leeks are fabulous to cook with and even better chopped up fresh in salads and summer time veggie dips!

This is a picture from the beginning of our 2009 harvest of onions laying out on the drying racks. We grew a few hundred that year. We have 600 or 800 to plant this year. 

The racks are located near the south side of the garden and get plenty of breeze to dry, but also sheltered by the little roof and by a few trees to keep the rain and sun off of them. 

The onions begin to finish up in May in time for the other vegetables to take over the garden. The drying racks will be used again for potato harvesting and I always seem to be throwing flower heads on them to dry for saving seed.

I'm so happy to be getting a chance to play in the garden again. I've been dreaming of the spring garden, going through catalogs and planning and ordering a few new heirlooms. It's a good time to be finding out your zones and not miss out on some sweet organic onions this year.

Happy Gardening!!

Pammy