the seeds i planted last year worked out fairly well.
today i was out weeding and lifting up what i want to
keep or use. there's plenty more tiny bulbs left in
there that will keep growing for this fall and into
next year.

most of what i lifted today were the red onions but
the seeds i used were not entirely one variety and may
have had some crosses in there too so that is one of
the reasons i planted them. well, aside from the fact
that the seeds were old and i wasn't even sure many of
them would grow at all.

it turned out i had several thousand that survived
from last year and through this spring and the dry spell
we had, but they did get watered since there are other
onions in that patch i have to keep going.

they were not thinned, they were weeded, whatever i
have harvested now were the ones that grew best around
the edges and then in the middle with competition from
all the other seedlings. they also were not mulched
at all last winter. the soil is mostly clay, but also
fairly good in terms of nutrients. i normally put down
worms and worm compost under rows of onions i plant.
these two rows of seeds were not planted in that though.
i save that for the big sweet onions Mom likes to cook
with.

i had three seedlings from last year and that lived
through the winter which were big enough to flower. of
the three one of them has both seeds and tiny bulbs on
top so it is a walking onion cross from somewhere. i
don't grow those here but a few years ago i did have
some onions that were very different like that so
perhaps some of those seeds were in this batch i had too
or they managed to cross. i don't have enough seeds or
tops to share around yet, but i'll see if i can get an
increase out of these next year because it is interesting
and useful to have both seeds and small top bulbs to
work with.

today was the first day in a long time that it was
cool enough to work outside from the morning into the
afternoon. mid-70s and a bit of a breeze. couldn't
ask for a nicer day to putter around in the gardens.

songbird

songbird