Homesteading In The Pacific Northwest

Monday, March 21, 2011

Harvest Monday...and a tale of two hundred onions....

I don't have a harvest this week, but I did use some of my pickled vegetables from last summer as a side dish for last night's Chilaquiles with Chicken and Black Beans.....


I'm joining other bloggers over at Daphne's Dandelions as we share our weekly harvests...it's fun to see what others are harvesting and what they are cooking up with it...check it out!

We had a break from the rain over the weekend and I accomplished a lot in the garden.  My order for leek (Lancelot) and onion (Candy) starts from Territorial Seed arrived on Friday...and then Tammy, my "garden fairy" surprised me with 100 Walla Walla onion starts...ack!  Now I had 200 onions and 100 leeks!!

I had decided to do some companion planting in my allium bed this year so I planted some of the leeks...


...and some of the Candy onions on Saturday...


I got sidetracked working on the "secret project" out by the lake on Sunday, so I finished planting the allium bed this morning.  I wanted to try planteing carrots and beets next to the leeks and onions using Carol's (Annie's Kitchen Garden) seed mat technique.  I glued carrot seeds to the napkins with 2" spacing and set the mats next to the leeks.


I covered the carrot seed mats with a quarter inch of a light potting soil mix and then set the beet seed mats next to the Candy onions...


...and covered them with soil.  I placed sticks to mark the edges of the beet and carrot rows and the used my "dibble" (it's a mop handle) to make depressions in the soil for the Walla Walla onions...


...I set the onions into their holes, firmed the soil up around them and gently watered the entire bed. There are about 100 onions and 40 leeks planted...so I still have a lot more to find homes for...


Annie's Granny said that she set a board on top of the carrots until they had germinated...but I had an idea...


I'm sold on using these germination heat mats in my beds after seeing the results of my potato box experiment...but wait...that's tomorrow's post... :)

Enjoy!

7 comments:

  1. Those are looking nice. I'm hoping to get my onions outside more. This week is supposed to only be in the low 40s and 30s for highs so not quite yet. Maybe in a couple weeks though.

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  2. Those are great looking onion plants! Mine arrived on Friday and I really need to get them planted soon. I companion plant everything, just stick an onion here and there and in between and you'll find a home for all of them!

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  3. WOW~ Loads of onions, lucky you to have a garden fairy like that! Hey - you tease! That isn't nice. Now I have to wait to see your results of your heat mat experiment. No fair. ;-)

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  4. Looking good. I like to sow carrot and allium together too .

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  5. I did a big onion planting last weekend as well. They are one of those plants that when you are done - you have an instant garden! A little forest of onions where once there was bare soil.

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  6. I'm anxious to see how your carrots germinate under the heat mats! I use the boards to retain moisture, as the ground dries out so quickly here. I need to get my carrots glued. Lately I've used toilet tissue instead of napkins, then I just roll it up once the glue has dried, and they keep until I get a good planting date. I do think I like the napkins better though.

    I don't have heat mats, but I'm using rope lights for bottom heat, and I'm amazed at the speedy germination. I planted some morning glories one night, and the next morning they were already up!

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  7. I still have my own onion starts to plant...I have to find room for them...I will admit to having more heat mats than I probably need, but the Ace Hardware in Belfair has had them on sale several times in the past two years and I'd convince myself that I needed one more...

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