My name is spelled wrong on the YouTube page. It’s Dawling, not Dowling.
The title of the podcast refers to our decision some years ago, after 15 years of extensive trials, to stop growing bulb onions. Luke Hammond, the interviewer, was surprised we have chosen to forego such a basic crop. Most of the podcast is not about onions! But here I will give some background to that decision.
Onion variety trial bed in late April. Photo Kathryn Simmons
Onion Varieties
Onions are an exacting crop. Knowing how to get the best from your seeds will greatly improve your chances of success. It’s important to grow varieties that are suitable for the latitude of your farm. The further north you are, the longer the number of daylight hours you have in summer. I garden on the 38th parallel, the natural home of neither the Short day (Sweet Vidalia type) nor the Long day onion (hard, strong-flavored storing varieties). The names refer to the relative daylight length needed before the plant will start to make a bulb. The dividing line between short day (south of 35º) and long day (north of 38º) varieties is around 35-36-37º latitude. This reality, plus my own confusion, led us to study and experiment to find ways to work with the needs of this crop, to improve our harvest.
Onion Growth Stages
Onions are cool season plants. They have 3 distinct phases of growth and the switch from one to the next is triggered by environmental factors. It does not work to plant onions at a random date in the year without taking account of these environmental factors. Onions transition from the vegetative (leafy) to the bulbing stage at a precise daylength for that variety.
To grow large onions it is important to produce large healthy plants before the vegetative stage gives way to the bulbing stage. Each onion leaf represents one ring of the future onion bulb. The larger the leaf, the larger the ring becomes. If plants are small when bulbing starts, only small bulbs are possible. Cool, but not cold, weather encourages heavy leaf growth. Onion seedlings are slow growing – in spring they can take 10 weeks to reach a size suitable for transplanting.
Here at 38ºN, our longest day (summer solstice) has 14 hours and 46 minutes of daylight. We have 14 hours of daylight on May 6th. A few varieties of Long Day onions can be grown here, but those requiring 15 or 16 hours of daylight will never form bulbs at this latitude, unfortunately.
Onion Types
Short Day onions start to bulb at 10-12 hours of daylight, provided temperatures are warm enough. In the south, below 35ºN, they are sown in September or October, grow through the winter, and are harvested in May-June. Onions can survive 20ºF (-6.7ºC), but not worse. We have tried over-wintering onions outdoors, but even with rowcover, our losses were too high. Here we reach 10 hours of daylight on January 21; 11 hours on February 20; and 12 hours, naturally enough, at the spring equinox. Bulbing initiation gets delayed beyond the daylight trigger, until temperatures are higher than 60ºF-70ºF (15.5ºC-21ºC), (which is early April here). If we grow Short Day varieties here, they only have a brief time in spring to grow a decent sized plant before bulbing starts. Therefore it’s a waste of time to sow Short Day onions here in spring.
Hot, wet weather is the worst for onion growing and harvesting, so it is best not to let the onions sit around in wet soil during very hot days. Harvest them, get them under shade and a roof to dry down. Trimming should begin about two weeks after you started hanging the onions.
Bulb onions curing on a rack. Photo Wren Vile
After a rack has been hanging for two weeks, test them by feeling maybe a dozen necks to see if they are ready for trimming. This involves pinching the necks gently just next to the bulb, and then rubbing/rolling your fingers together. They are ready for trimming if the majority of the necks feel dry and strawy.
Why We Didn’t Succeed With Onions
We really wanted to grow bulb onions for year-round use, therefore we needed some storing onions. We can grow “Eat Right Away” onions, but only for a short window of the year. Local growers succeed with onions by growing varieties like Ailsa Craig to sell freshly harvested. But a ton of onions for one week didn’t answer our need! The storing long day varieties mostly grow north of 38º, not here. We found a few with small success (short term storage).
Our second problem was our curing conditions. Our barn is hot and sometimes humid. We needed fast drying so they didn’t rot. The onions we could grow were not as huge as the big round onions we could buy (not organic) at the wholesale market. Our cooks preferred convenience over Organic. Remember, cooking for a hundred people is not a walk in the park!
So, eventually we gave up on bulb onions. We grew yellow potato onions for quite a few years. Those aren’t big either, but the small ones do store very well. Nowadays we grow lots of garlic and lots of scallions.
Onions curing and drying in strings. Credit Southern Exposure Seed Exchange
The allium family includes all kinds of onions, garlic, leeks, perennial onions such as potato onions, and also less well known alliums, mostly perennials.
This is the time of year for harvesting most alliums except leeks. (It’s the time for planting out leeks for fall and winter harvests.)
I have a whole series of Alliums for the month posts. Here’s a link to Alliums for June. It includes the starter for the list I provide here, of the relative timing of harvests for various alliums.
Order of Allium Harvests
Our allium harvests generally occur on these dates. Your dates will differ but you can expect this order of harvests:
Nov 18–May 10: Onion scallions in the hoophouse
Mar 15–May 31: Garlic scallions
May 7–May 28: Garlic scapes
May 10–Jun 30: Onion scallions outdoors
May 25–Jun 10: Green bulb onions (Allium cepa)
May 30–Jun 8: Hardneck garlic
May 30–Jun 11: Potato onions ( cepa aggregatum) planted in fall
Jun 6–Jun 25: Potato onions planted in January and February
Jun 10: Shallot bulbs (cepa aggregatum), fall-planted. They are not fully hardy in zone 7a. I recommend storing bulbs and replanting in early spring instead
Jun 11–Jun 12: Softneck garlic bulbs
Jun 11–Jul 11: Bulb onions sown in fall, with slow spring-sown ones to Jul 26
Jun 19–Jul 2: Cipollini (cepacepa) Small bulb onions grown in a hoophouse from spring transplants
Jun 30–Jul 5: Elephant garlic ( ampeloprasumampeloprasum) We stopped growing this when too many winter-killed
Jul 1–Jul 8: Shallots from bulbs refrigerated over the winter and replanted in early spring
Jul 1–Jul 15: Cipollini outdoors from spring transplants
July: L’itoi (A. cepa aggregatum). This peppery little perennial clumping onion sends up edible shoots in early July.
Jul 4–Jul 30: Shallots from seed started in late January, plugs transplanted in March. Harvest 4–8 weeks later than those from bulbs replanted in October
July–September: The small red-purple bulbils of Egyptian onions can be pickled. Earlier in the year, before the bulbils appear, harvest the tasty, succulent leaves of this very hardy perennial.
Spring, summer, fall according to size: Welsh onions ( A. fistulosum) are non-bulbing, hardy perennial onion greens, larger than chives and scallions. Japanese bunching onions are similar. Can be sown in fall or spring. Clumps can be divided and replanted
Sep 6: Shallots direct sown outdoors in February and March
Here’s some details on harvesting some of the smaller alliums
Harvesting onion scallions
Scallions ready-to-harvest. Photo Pam Dawling
From around May 10, through June, our outdoor onion scallions are big enough to harvest (just as the hoophouse ones finish up!) We start these from seed in January and February and transplant as clumps in March and April. In cooler climates, you can schedule harvests through summer, but we cannot get good quality ones here after late June. It’s good to develop an efficient harvest method with little scallions or it takes way too long. To harvest, loosen the soil with a digging fork, then lift out a clump. Deal with scallions in bunches as much as possible, rather than one at a time. Shake the plants, and trim off the roots and the ragged tips. Holding the bunch in one hand, pass the scallions one at a time to the other hand, separating them and pulling off a single outer leaf, not more. Don’t fuss with them too much. Next set the scallions in water in a small bucket, to clean themselves while you work on the rest. If you are going to band them, start out with a bunch of rubber bands around three fingers on the hand that holds the bunches (leaving the forefinger free for tasks demanding dexterity). When you’re ready to band them, use the other hand to pull a rubber band into position. When the bucket is full enough, dunk the scallions up and down, and transfer them to a clean bucket with a small amount of water to keep them fresh.
Harvesting garlic scallions
A healthy patch of garlic scallions in spring Photo credit Kathryn Simmons
Garlic scallions (small whole garlic plants) provide our first allium harvest of the calendar year, starting in mid-late March and continuing (if we have planted enough) into May. Some people cut the greens at 10″ (25 cm) tall and bunch them, allowing cuts to be made every two or three weeks. We prefer to simply lift the whole plant once it reaches about 7″–8″ (18–20 cm) tall. You may need to loosen the plants rather than just pulling. The leaves keep in better condition if still attached to the clove. Trim the roots, rinse, bundle, set in a small bucket with a little water, and you’re done! Garlic scallions can be sold in bunches of three to six depending on size.
Harvesting garlic scapes
Harvesting garlic scapes Photo by Wren Vile
Another spring allium harvest is garlic scapes (the firm, edible flower stems of hardneck garlic). Here scapes appear when tulip poplars flower. In a warm spring, that can be the end of April. Garlic scape arrival is partly temperature dependent. We harvest scapes two or three times a week for about three weeks, until there are no more. At the Roxbury Agriculture Institute at Philia Farm in New York State, they wait until the scape has curled round, then cut it off. We harvest ours sooner than that, in order to let the bulb grow as big as possible. We pull our garlic scapes to get the most out ! In our climate, the appearance of scapes indicates the garlic will be ready to harvest in three weeks. I’m not sure if the same timing works everywhere, so keep records and you’ll learn what to expect. Exactly how day-length and temperature interact as triggers for scape and bulb harvest dates, I don’t know. I’ve done some research, but haven’t found much solid info yet. In general, plant flowering is triggered by some combination of enough vernalization (chilling hours — maybe 10 weeks below 40°F/4.5°C), plant maturity, temperature and photo-period (the relative length of day and night). In cold weather the plants suppress the flowering signal. The leaves perceive the amount of daylight, and when the temperature is also right, they trigger flowering by sending a signal (called Florigen) to the shoot tips. Florigen may be an actual compound, or may be some combination or ratio of several hormones produced by the plant. Almost all these factors are outside our control once the plant is in the ground, so the best we can do is pay attention and be ready to act.
Harvest garlic bulbs and bulbing onions
(see Alliums for June) I won’t go into details here, as I’ve done that previously.
240 heads of garlic drying in Tenax fencing. Photo Sierran Farmer
These small, attractive onion bulbs can be easier to grow in marginal onion climates than full-sized onions or can be an additional allium crop. The larger ones can be used as fresh bunching onions. All may be cured. Cipollini naturally have more sugar than most onions, which makes them ideal for caramelizing or roasting whole. The scheduling and final size of your cipollini will depend on your latitude and temperatures.
Clumps of scallion transplants in a plug flat, ready to transplant. Photo Pam Dawling
Plant scallions, shallots, cipollini mini-onions, small potato onions
In January, one of the first crops we sow is scallions for transplant. We sow in 200-cell plug flats, on January 17, aiming to get 4-6 seeds per cell. It takes 4 gm of seed for 200 cells. We transplant these clumps on March 21, with 3″ (7 cm) space between plugs. We need about 50 row feet (15 m) This grows us scallions already in bunches, and makes excellent use of the space. We make a second sowing of the same size on February 17 and transplant April 14. We also grow scallions in the hoophouse in winter.
French Red Shallot bulbs. Photo Raddysh Acorn
Plant shallot bulbs January-February, if you haven’t done so before the winter.
Between late January and mid-February, sow shallot seeds. Transplant in late March. Shallots from seed will be ready for harvest 7/4-7/30, about a month later than harvests from replanted bulbs.
Cipollini, Mini-onions, Pickling Onions
Like bulb onions and scallions, cipollini are a biennial crop grown as an annual (A. cepa var. cepa). They are small bulb onions used whole for kebabs, pickles, casseroles, and stews. Depending on your latitude and the variety’s adaptation, these will provide bulbs from the size of large cherries to ping-pong balls. They tend to dry down nicely and store well. White varieties get sunburn here. Red Marble is good, stores well. Purplette doesn’t store well.
Mini-onions are viewed as a gourmet item, so the prices you can get may justify giving them greenhouse bench space, or even growing space in a hoophouse. We can grow these outdoors from seed sown 1/17-1/25, transplanting 3/10-3/21, leading to harvest 7/1-7/17.
In late January, plant small potato onions (smaller than 1.5″/4 cm) late January as soon as the ground can be worked. Or early February, if January is not possible. See Alliums for December for planting medium-sized bulbs, Alliums for September for information on planting the large ones. In order to make January planting possible, we prepare the bed for the small potato onions in the late fall and cover it with mulch for the winter. In late January or early February, we remove the mulch, make 4 deep furrows, plant the small onions (<1½”, 4 cm) on 4″ (10 cm) centers, cover with ½”-1″ (1-3 cm) soil, tamp down, and replace 4″-8″ (10-20 cm) of mulch. Label and write down how much seed was used. Eat any leftovers or give them to a friend. For 360′ (111 m) at 4″ (10 cm), we need 1080 bulbs plus 20% spare. (Approx 1300 bulbs). 425 bulbs = 18-20lbs (8-9 kg), 1lb (500 gm) =20-33 bulbs.
Harvesting and Eating
Eat onions and garlic from storage, including bulbils from Egyptian onions if you stored those.
You can enjoy eating Perennial leeks as leeks, September to February. See Alliums for December
This is the time to enjoy winter leeks. We try to grow enough to supply 1 bed (720 leeks) each month, December to February
Other Allium Tasks
How to harvest and trim leeks.
Use a sturdy digging fork to harvest leeks. Photo Pam Dawling
Be sure to get the prongs/times of the fork downwards into the soil, not at an angle that will stab the leek. Step on the fork and go deep enough to dislodge the leek when you lever back on the fork.
Trim the leek roots off with a big knife. Photo Pam Dawling
After removing the roots, hold the leek upside down and slash diagonally at the leaves. This will remove the damaged parts of the tougher outer leaves and leave the tender inner leaves to eat.
A trimmed leek showing how the inner leaves are left longer than the outer ones. Photo Pam Dawling
If you haven’t done it already, free trapped garlic shoots. Look for garlic shoots at whatever spacing you used.
Young garlic shoots which emerged through the mulch on their own. Photo Pam DawlingA trapped garlic shoot that was freed with human intervention. Photo Pam Dawling
If you don’t see a garlic shoot where there should be one, part the mulch just enough to let the pale shoot see the light. Don’t leave any soil bare, it only leads to weeds!
Unusual Alliums List. (There are others)
While you are perusing seed catalogs, look out for these less common alliums, and consider if they have a place in your garden. The Clove Garden has lots of info on all types of onion. The Backyard Larder: Ali’s Alliumsis also a good read.
Pearl onions (Allium ampeloprasumsectivum), also known as button or baby onions in the UK, or creamers in the US, are a close relative of leeks, with thin skins and a mild, sweet flavor. They grow up to 1′ (2.5 cm) in diameter. They are especially popular in the Netherlands and Germany. Unlike bulb onions, they do not have layers of storage leaves but only a single storage leaf, like the non-layered cloves of garlic. The onions are ready to harvest 90 days from sowing. They are mostly used for pickling. Most onions grown for pickling today are simply small crowded bulb onions, with layers. Also see the Useful Temperate Plants Site and How to grow Pearl Onions by Jenny Harrington
Perennial Rakkyo (aka as true pearl onions, Japanese scallions, Vietnamese leeks) are Allium Chinense. These small onion bulbs are generally pickled.
Canada onion (aka Wild onion) (Allium canadense) is a perennial sounding very like what we call onion grass or wild garlic in Virginia, although that is Allium vineale (crow garlic). The leaves of onion grass are hollow and round, while those of Canada onion are more flat and ‘solid’.
Kurrat ( kurrat), is a Middle-Eastern cultivated leek, used mainly for the greens, which may be cut from the plant repeatedly.
Field garlicAllium oleraceum is native to most of Europe, where it is a wild perennial, growing tall leaves (the part that is used).
Ramsons Allium ursinum, buckrams, wild garlic, broad-leaved garlic, wood garlic, bear leek, or bear’s garlic, common in Europe. Looks like Ramps, (Allium tricoccum) but is not the same. The broad flat leaves are the part used.
Japanese bunching onion and Welsh onion (native to Siberia or China, not Wales) are Allium fistulosum. They are sometimes used as scallions, as are some A. cepa. Young plants of A. fistulosum and A. cepa look very similar, but may be distinguished by their leaves, which are circular in cross-section in A. fistulosum rather than flattened on one side. A. fistulosum has hollow leaves (fistulosum means “hollow”), scapes and does not develop bulbs – the leaves are the part which is eaten.
Sorry for the delayed post. We lost our internet in the storm 5 days ago. Just got it back. Ah rural life!
Perennial leeks (small ones)
Planting Alliums in December
Sow backup bulb onions 12/5 in the hoophouse, see Alliums for November. These will be transplanted outdoors March 1st or as soon after that as feasible. If this sowing is not needed for transplants, they can be used as scallions. Regular bulb onions are a biennial crop grown as an annual (Allium cepa var. cepa)
Divide clumps of perennial leeks and replant (see Special Topic below)
Egyptian onions, aka Top-setting onions, tree onions, walking onions, produce tiny red-purple bulbs in the umbel instead of flowers, and were previously named Allium cepa var. proliferum. According to Wikipedia, they are now known to be a hybrid of A. cepa and A. fistulosum. Divide clumps in Spring (March, April) and fall (late September to November, depending on your climate)
Further south, warmer than zone 7, plant garlic and elephant garlic. Elephant garlic is botanically a leek (A. ampeloprasum var. ampeloprasum).
Potato onions and shallots (which develop in the ground) are Allium cepa var. aggregatum. Plant medium-sized (1½”-2″, 4-5 cm) potato onions in late November-early December in zone 7. See Alliums for Septemberon planting the large ones. Save the small ones to plant in January, as they won’t survive the winter well in the ground. On the plus side, the small ones store really well indoors, unlike the large ones.
For 360′ (110 m) @ 6″ (15cm) you need 720 bulbs plus 20% spare. Approximately 940 bulbs. 150 medium bulbs weigh about 20-21# (9 kg). 1# = 8 bulbs
Plant them at 6″ (15cm). If there are not enough medium-sized onions available, increase spacing or fill out with small onions.
Cover with ½-1″ (1-2 cm) soil, and add 4″-8″ (10-20 cm) mulch.
Store any leftovers till January, when the small ones get planted, if you want more.
A yellow potato onion plant in spring, showing how a cluster of onions forms. Photo Kathryn Simmons
“The potato onion is closely related to the shallot. Like the walking onion they aren’t largely referenced until the 1790s when they gain popularity in English and American gardens. Shallots on the other hand, have been recorded in use for centuries and date back to Roman times. Southern Exposure’s yellow potato onion variety is an heirloom that dates back to prior to 1790. Both the potato and walking onions saw widespread use in colonial America. They were often easy to grow in conditions that were less than ideal and easy to keep year after year. Sadly these perennial onions fell out of favor during the 20th century. People chose to grow more seed onions as onion seeds and sets became more widely available.
Benefits of potato onions and shallots
They are not as readily bothered by the onion fly as are seed onions.
Once you have enough potato onions or shallots you need not buy seeds or sets again.
Some types of multiplier onions are in demand as gourmet items in restaurants.
Potato onions and many shallots store well, and can withstand subfreezing temperatures in every area of the continental U.S. when properly planted.
Perennial onions may be easier for you to grow. While some gardeners find seed onions to be an easy, productive crop others struggle with them. If you’re having a hard time with seed onions perennial onions are worth a shot.”
Harvesting alliums in December
Winter leeks, 12/8-3/1. Common leeks are Allium ampeloprasum var. porrum.
Scallions in the hoophouse at the end of November. Photo Pam Dawling
Hoophouse scallions, (spring onions, escallions or salad onions). Like bulb onions, these are A. cepa var. cepa. Early Lisbon and Evergreen Hardy White scallion varieties are hardy to 0°F (−18°C), as are chives, garlic, a few leeks (Alaska, Durabel), some bulb onions, and yellow potato onions.
Perennial leeks as leeks (see Special Topic below).
Leaves of Egyptian onions and perennial leeks: Cut and use these September to April, as long as they are still green and in good shape.
Other Allium tasks for December
Garlic shoots emerging through the mulch.
Free trapped garlic shoots. Watch your mulched garlic beds and when the shoots start to emerge, choose the moment to free any trapped shoots, by working along the rows, investigating each spot where you expect a garlic plant to be, but see nothing. Your goal is simply to let the shoot see the daylight. Then it will right itself. Don’t reveal any bare soil, as that will grow weeds (and let colder winter air at the garlic.) Don’t over-work this – as soon as any part of a shoot is visible, leave that plant alone, and move on to the thousands of others. It isn’t necessary to make all the leaves visible, or to clear around the whole plant.
Choosing the right time might be tricky. I used to say when half or more of the shoots are visible, but one year we were having a crop disaster, and we waited too long – we were never going to have half visible. Usually, most of them emerge at the same time.
When properly planted and mulched, garlic can withstand winter lows of -30°F (-35°C). garlic roots will grow whenever the ground isn’t frozen, and the tops will grow whenever the temperature is above 40°F (4.5°C). If garlic gets frozen back to the ground, it can regrow and be fine.
Eat onions and garlic from storage, and if you harvested little bulbils from Egyptian onions in September, you can use them during the winter. They store well.
Cured garlic and onions hanging from a beam. Photo Southern Exposure Seed Exchange
Special topic for December: Perennial Leeks (Allium ampeloprasum)
Divide clumps of perennial leeks and replant in late September to November and March-April. Harvest the larger leeks September to February, replant the rest. Ira Wallace of Southern Exposure Seed Exchange says:
“If divided and left to grow for 9-12 months, perennial leeks really make decent-sized leeks you harvest in October [or so]. This gives you something more like the early traditional leeks plus an assortment of smaller leeks to divide and let grow. [If you are] starting with only a few it’s best to just divide and grow larger for at least a year to get up to a decent quantity and size.”
In June, July and early August some people use larger bulbils in mixed pickles.
Perennial leeks will be dry bulbs in August and can be re-spaced between August and November into a larger planting for next year.
Potato onion plant with young shoots. Photo by Kathryn Simmons
Alliums to Plant in September
Divide and replant Egyptian onions and perennial leeks
Divide and replant perennial alliums in September (August-October) to increase the size of the patch and get more next year.
Plant large potato onions (2-2½”, 5-6 cm)
It’s better not to try to store very large potato onions over 2½” (6cm) for planting, just eat them (they sprout easily).
All large potato onions store poorly, so keep planting stock in the refrigerator until planting in late September or early October. Jeff McCormack does not recommend planting before September.
For 360′ (110m) @ 8″ (20cm) you need 540 bulbs plus 30%-40% spare. Approximately 760 bulbs. 150 large bulbs weigh about 25# (11kg)
Plant them at 8″ (20cm). If there are not enough large onions available, increase spacing or fill out with medium onions.
Cover with ½-1″ (1-2cm) soil, and add 4″-8″ (10-20cm) mulch.
Refrigerate any leftovers for November planting with the medium-sized onions, or eat or sell now.
Yields can be 3 to 8 times the weight of the seed stock, depending on growing conditions.
Individual bulbs can be grown indoors in a pot to produce a steady supply of green onions during the winter.
Sow ramp seeds in woodlands
Mature harvested ramp plants. Photo Small Farm Central
In zones 3-7, sow ramps seed during August and September (see August blogpost)
Ramps (also known as Wood Leeks or Wild Leeks) are a native woodland perennial, and can be found throughout the eastern-half of the United States, as far west as Oklahoma and as far north as the central and eastern provinces of Canada.
Ramps, (Allium tricoccum) have some of the flavor components of leeks, onions, and garlic. There are projects to re-establish ramps in a number of regions in the Eastern United States. Carriage House Farm is one such attempt by Grow Appalachia, which is a program of Berea College in Kentucky, Grow Appalachia works with farmers, gardeners, ranchers, and conservationists across a five state area to reintroduce old native and heirloom species of plants. Ramps is/was one plant in this program. It takes two years for ramp seeds to germinate and another 2-3 years till they hit harvestable levels.
Harvest Egyptian walking onions (topset onions, tree onions) for pickling, leaves of Egyptian onions and perennial leeks (September-April for cutting those)
Egyptian onions produce tiny red-purple bulbs in the umbel instead of flowers, and were previously named Allium cepa var. proliferum. According to Wikipedia, they are now known to be a hybrid of A. cepa and A. fistulosum.
Japanese bunching onion and Welsh onion (native to China, not Wales) areAllium fistulosum. They are sometimes used as scallions, as are some A. cepa bulbing onions. Young plants of A. fistulosum and A. cepa look very similar, but may be distinguished by their leaves, which are circular in cross-section in A. fistulosum rather than flattened on one side. A. fistulosum has hollow leaves (fistulosum means “hollow”), scapes and does not develop bulbs – the leaves are the part that is eaten. Welsh onions are also known as cibol, chibbles (in Cornwall), escallion (in Jamaica), negi (in Japan), pa (in Korea), as well as green onions, salad onions, spring onions,. These general last names are also used for other kinds of onions where the leaves are the part eaten.
Perennial leeks are Allium Ampeloprasum. Common leeks are Allium ampeloprasum var. porrum (more about leeks in October and March). Elephant garlic is botanically a leek (A. ampeloprasum var. ampeloprasum).
Other Allium Tasks for September
See Alliums for August for more on all of the following jobs which continue into September:
Snipping and sorting garlic and potato onions
Trimming, sorting and storing bulb onions
Eating onions and garlic from storage
Inspect onions and garlic at least once a month. Remove bulbs which are sprouting or rotting or else the whole batch may spoil.
At the end of September I make the decision about how many potato onions to keep back for planting (see August for our calculations).
We also move garlic from warm storage to cool storage (more info below)
Potato onions store very well through the winter so long as they are well-cured, dry, well-ventilated, and not packed over 4″ deep. Ideal conditions are a temperature between either 32–41°F (0–5°C) or 50–70°F (10–21°C) with 60-70% humidity.
Special Allium Topic for September: Garlic Storage
Before trimming your garlic, I hope you were sure it was fully cured, and you set aside any non-storing bulbs, such as those with damaged cloves, or any over-mature, springing-open bulbs. It usually works to select your seed-stock bulbs at the same time.
Commercially, garlic is stored in the dark at about 32°F (0°C) and 65% humidity, and depending on the species and variety, it may keep six months or more. I have heard that garlic can be stored for up to nine months at 27°F (-2.7°C), but I have not tried that myself. It does not freeze until 21°F (-6°C). Do not store peeled garlic in oil, as garlic is low in acidity and the botulin toxin could grow.
For storage, garlic (like onions) does best with a humidity of 60%–70%. Refrigerators are usually more humid than ideal.
Garlic will sprout if kept in a temperature range of 40–56°F (4.4–13°C), or if it is allowed to get cold then warm. So long as temperatures remain over 56°F (13°C) you can store garlic almost anywhere. You can use an unheated room in your house, a root cellar, garage, etc. Maintain good air circulation. Most varieties store reasonably well in a cool room if hung from the ceiling in mesh bags, or spread on shelves in a layer less than 4″ deep.
In our climate, with a long period in the danger zone temperatures of 40–56°F (4.4–13°C), we keep alliums in the warmer storage range (60-70°F (15.5-21°C) or hotter) in a basement until late September or sometime in October when ambient temperatures in the basement drop close to 56ºF (13°C). We then move our eating garlic from the basement to the walk-in refrigerated cooler at 32–41°F (0–5°C), 95–100%. The low shelves in the cooler near the compressor are damper and do not work well. We use the high and dry shelves.
Juggling space for various crops, moving the garlic out of the basement makes space available for the winter squash harvests in September and October. By this time most of the apples from the walk-in cooler have been eaten, and space is available there. Also there is no longer the problem of ethylene emitted by the apples, which causes garlic to sprout. Ideally ripe fruits and garlic would never be in the same storage space.
Softneck garlics store longest. Silverskins store up to 12 months under the best conditions. Most hardnecks last 4-6 months but Music and Chesnok Red can keep 7 months or more here in central Virginia.
Storage of Seed Garlic
We store our seed garlic on a high shelf in the garden shed, at quite variable ambient temperatures, where it does fine until late October or early November when we plant it. Seed garlic does not require long-term storage conditions! The ideal storage conditions for seed garlic are 50-65°F (10-18°C) and 65-70% relative humidity. Storing in a refrigerator is not a good option for seed garlic, as prolonged cool storage results in “witches-brooming” (strange growth shapes), and early maturity (along with lower yields). Storage above 65°F (18°C) results in delayed sprouting and late maturity.
Siberian garlic. Photo by Southern Exposure Seed Exchange
These will be dry bulbs at this point of the year and can be re-spaced between August and October into a larger planting for next year.
August onion harvests
In cooler climates (if the quality is still good) the tops/greens/leaves of Egyptian onions and perennial leeks can be cut and used fresh. The larger bulbils of Egyptian onions and perennial leeks can be used in mixed pickles. Garlic and bulb onions can be eaten from storage.
Early August: at the third sorting of the potato onions, I separate the clusters, trim the tops and sort by size. Sorting by size is not essential, but I do it to help me figure out what to save for planting and what to eat or use as seed (for planting). We sort smalls (<1.5”), larges (1.5-2.0”) and eaters (>2.0”). And compost material. The rack space required after this stage is only a third of what it was before that.
At the end of August I sort through again, and make initial plans about what to do with surplus planting stock (sell, give to friends). At the end of September I make the decision about how much to keep back for planting. I used to put the onions into net bags for storage, but I found I get better results if I just leave them in a single layer on the racks. The small ones stay there till late January, through freezing conditions (or more accurately, alternating freezing and thawing conditions). They can appear to be frozen solid, but are in fine condition. Ideal conditions are 32-40F, 60-70% humidity, with good ventilation. Layers should not be more than 4” deep.
Seed saving is a natural part of growing potato onions. We started in 2000 with 0.5 pound of seed stock, planted late in the spring. We harvested only 1.5#, but we continued, adding in more seed-stock, and planted 46# for 2003, (90’ large, 180’ small). At that point I was dividing into 3 planting sizes: small (<1”, 30-60 bulbs/pound); medium (1-1.5”, 16-22 bulbs/pound); and larges (>1.5”, 7-8 bulbs/pound). For 2004, I planned to plant large:small in a 1:2 ratio by area, to get enough small and medium onions to plant the same area the next year, and to get lots to eat as well. But the 2003 harvest had a high amount of large onions, and I decided to plant them all, increasing to 540’. We expanded to plant 720’, in a large:small ratio of 1:3 by area (i.e. 180’ large, 540’ small). This gives us enough smalls to plant for the next year, and plenty of larges and eaters. Someone growing for maximum seed-stock would probably want to plant a higher ratio of large ones, in order to get more smalls.
Instead of weighing all the onions, I now know I need to save 3 racks (probably 65#, 450 bulbs) of larges (1.5-2.0”) and 5 racks (probably 75#, 2100 bulbs) of smalls (<1.5”) for planting next year’s crop. This allows a margin for decay. The small ones really are very stable, it’s the larger ones that are more prone to sprouting, so I pull those out whenever I pass by.
In July I mentioned that bulb onions can safely be stored at 60°F-90°F (16°C-32°C) if they have not been refrigerated at all. This applies only to fully cured onions with dry necks. (Green onions need refrigeration at 32°F-41°F (0-5°C), 95-100% humidity.)
For cured dormant onions it is very important to avoid the 45°F-55°F (7°C-13°C) range, because that’s when they sprout.
For storage, onions and garlic do best with a humidity of 60%-70%. Refrigerators are usually more humid than ideal. If you have a barn with the right temperatures, that will work better for long-term storage.
In our climate, with a long period in the danger zone temperatures, we keep alliums in the warmer storage range in a barn, shed or basement until ambient temperatures drop close to 55ºF, and then move them to a refrigerated cooler at 32°F -41°F (0-5°C) 95-100% humidity.
Do not freeze: onions get chill injury at 31°F (-0.5°C)
If at all possible, do not store onions with fruits, including squash, as these exude ethylene which promotes sprouting.
More reading
Other southern onion growers might like to read this publication by Dr Joe Masabni of Texas AgriLife Extension, called simply Onion
Walla Walla large non-storage onion. photo by Southern Exposure Seed Exchange
Collect ramp seeds
If you have been wild-crafting ramps (more on that in March), this is time to pay the piper. Collect seed and scatter it over the patches you dug from. Or collect seed to grow in woodlands at home – without of course, taking too many away from a place they could grow naturally. See the article in Modern Farmer. The seeds scattered in zones 3-7 in early fall, take 6 to 18 months to germinate, and the plants take 5-7 years to grow to harvestable size. Thus it’s easy to see how wild ramps have been seriously over-harvested.
Pickled garlic scapes, okra and beets. Photo Bridget Aleshire
This is the first of a new monthly series of blog-posts on Alliums for the Month, which, like my previous series on lettuce and Asian greens, I plan to run for a year. Alliums are the onion family. With this series, I’m going to talk about which alliums to harvest each month, which to plant, and which need other kinds of attention.
Weeding alliums
I haven’t thought of any alliums to plant in May (at least, not here in central Virginia), but there’s plenty to harvest, and don’t forget to weed! Because alliums don’t have big spreading leaves, they are not good at shading out weeds, so we have to take care of the weeds for them! Particularly bulb onions and garlic this month, as they are only a few weeks away from harvest and will benefit from removing weeds and mulch to let in fresh air to help the bulbs dry down (rather than get fungal diseases!)
Harvesting garlic scapes
Starting any day now, we will begin harvesting garlic scapes (the firm, edible flower stems of hardneck garlic). My previous posts about scapes are some of my most popular ones.
Pulling garlic scapes. Photo Wren Vile
See last year’s Garlic scapes, upcoming events, hoophouse seed crops, posted on May 2, 2017. There I noted that in 2017, scapes came early, as did Tulip Poplar flowers, at the end of April. We harvest scapes two or three times a week for about three weeks, until no more appear. Garlic scapes are one of the first outdoor crops of the year, apart from rhubarb and asparagus, and their flavor is refreshingly different from leafy greens (the staple hoophouse crops of early spring) and stored winter roots.
I posted Garlic scapes! Three weeks to bulb harvest on May 11, 2015. That year scapes were later than average. This post is a very popular one, and I’m still wondering if I was over-confident in predicting 3 weeks to bulb harvest everywhere in the US! Please do leave a comment if you have records for how long you get between scapes and garlic bulb harvest.
I’ve done some research into what triggers flowering in garlic, but haven’t found much solid info yet. In general, plant flowering is triggered by some combination of enough vernalization (chilling hours during the winter and early spring – maybe 10 weeks below 40F), plant maturity, temperature and photo-period (the relative length of day and night). In cold weather the plants suppress the flowering signal. The leaves perceive the amount of daylight, and when the temperature is also right, they trigger flowering by sending a signal (called Florigen) to the shoot tips. Florigen may be an actual compound, or may be some combination or ratio of several plant hormones, produced by one or more genes in the plant. Almost all these factors are outside our control, once the plant is in the ground, so the best we can do is pay attention and be ready to act.
There is a bit more information about the triggers for bulb initiation and for drying down. Garlic bulb initiation (and the end of leaf growth) is triggered by daylight increasing above13 hours in length (April 10 here at 38°N). Soil temperatures over 60°F (15.5°C) and air temperatures above 68°F (20°C) are secondary triggers. When I was in Jamaica last May, I researched growing garlic in the tropics, and it may be that temperature is a bigger trigger and daylength is less important in tropical latitudes where daylength does not vary much. Certainly some growers had produced garlic when I didn’t expect it to be possible.
Hot weather above 91°F (33°C) ends bulb growth and starts the drying down process. I don’t yet know how many hours over that temperature the garlic needs before drying down is triggered. We had a few very hot days last week.
It is important to get plenty of good rapid growth before conditions prevent any more growth. Garlic can double in size in its last month of growth, and removing the scapes (the hard central stem) of hardneck garlic can increase the bulb size 25%.
In the 2015 post I described how we pull our garlic scapes, to get the most out–we love this crop! We also appreciate a late-morning task that’s done standing up! In that post I described the value of mulch and when to remove it.
Pulling garlic scapes – the long view. Photo Wren Vile
Our harvest process
Here’s the short version. Those looking for more detail can go to my 2015 post.
When scapes arrive, plan some late morning or early afternoon time two or three times a week to harvest them.
As soon as the pointed cap of the scape has emerged above the plant center, firmly grasp the stem just below the cap and pull slowly and steadily straight up. The scape pops as it leaves the plant and you have the whole length of the scape, including the tender lower part.
Gather them into buckets, with the scapes upright, so they are easy to bunch or cut up.
Put a little water in the bucket.
They store well in a refrigerator for months if you don’t use them sooner.
In a few days, more scapes will have grown tall enough to pull, and you can have a second chance on any that broke at your earlier attempt.
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Clumps of scallion transplants in a Speedling flat, ready to transplant earlier in spring. Photo Pam Dawling
Harvesting scallions
In May our outdoor planted scallions start. For outdoors, we use transplants, started in January and February, and transplanted in March and April. We sow in Speedling plug flats, a small pinch of seed in each cell, and transplant the undivided clump/plug. We can get a lot of scallions in a small space. Around May 10, the first ones are big enough to harvest (just as the hoophouse ones finish up – what planning!)
To harvest, we loosen the soil with a digging fork, then lift out a clump. We shake the plants, keeping them in a cluster, and trim off the roots and the ragged tops. Holding the bunch in one hand, we pass the scallions one at a time to the other hand, pulling off a single outer leaf and giving the base of the plant a wipe with our spare hand. Next we set the scallions in a small bucket in water. When the bucket is full enough, we dunk the scallions up and down, and transfer them to a clean bucket with a small amount of water to keep them fresh.
Scallions planted in bunches, ready-to-harvest. Photo Pam Dawling
It’s good to develop an efficient method with little scallions or the harvest takes way too long. Deal with scallions in bunches as much as possible (digging up, trimming), rather than one at a time. Pass them from hand to hand when cleaning rather than set them down on the ground and pick them up again one at a time. Set them into water so they are cleaning themselves while you work on the rest. Don’t fuss with them too much – pull off a single outer leaf, not more. Don’t pick at little bits of skin, unless quite gross. If you are going to band them, start out with a bunch of rubber bands around three fingers on the hand that holds the bunches (leaving the forefinger free for tasks demanding dexterity). When you’re ready to band them, use the other hand to pull a rubber band into position.
Roxbury Farm in New York State has a wonderful Harvest Manual. Page 45 on scallions says they harvest 50 bunches an hour, including trimming tops as needed, but not roots. They wash 100 bunches an hour on a bench, in bunches, with a power spray.
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A potato onion plant in early spring, showing the cluster that has developed. Photo Kathryn Simmons
Harvesting fall-planted potato onions
Potato onions (Allium cepa var. aggregatum) are a type of hardy, perennial multiplier onion–once you have them you are self-sufficient. You don’t need to buy seed each year, but select the best bulbs from the ones you grew to replant for the next crop. Also known as Hill Onions, Mother Onions and Pregnant Onions, they produce a cluster of tasty (but not too pungent) bulbs from a single planted bulb, or a large bulb from a small one.
Potato onions have good drought resistance, pink root resistance, onion fly resistance and are widely adapted for different growing regions (not Florida or southern Texas). When properly planted they can withstand sub-freezing temperatures in every area of the continental U.S.
The potato onions which were planted earliest (September for us) will be ready to harvest first, at the end of May or early in June in our central Virginia climate. Once you see the tops start to fall over, stop watering the onions and let them dry down.
Potato onions are ready to harvest when the tops die. Not all will be ready the same day. Because onions easily get sunscald if left exposed after they are mature, it’s best to harvest the mature ones every few days. Don’t break over the tops in hopes of a single harvest–it really reduces the storage life. The potato onions sit on the surface and are easily picked up without tools. Handle them gently, to prevent bruising and scratching. Put them into crates or buckets, without pulling off any leaves.
The September planted potato onions were the largest bulbs when planted, and they will usually have divided and produced clusters of small onions. Do not break up the clusters as you harvest, because this triggers sprouting. Set the clusters in a barn or shed, on an airy bench or horizontal rack. The tops break easily, so you cannot hang them as you might hang garlic. Potato onions need good ventilation: we use box fans continuously.
If you find any bulbs larger than 2.5″ (about 6 cm), go ahead and eat those. The giants do not store well. Alternatively, refrigerate them till September and replant. The small and medium-sized bulbs keep 8-12 months under good conditions, and are the best to replant to grow more onions.
Potato onions need sorting about once a month to remove any that are rotting. We plant our large ones in September or early October, our medium-sized ones in late November and our small ones in late January. I’ll tell you more about those when the time comes.
Two beds of potato onions in spring, of different planting dates. Photo Kathryn Simmons
Greenhouse interior with spring seedling flats. Photo Kathryn Simmons
Planning: Week 1: Revise Crop Planting Quantities chart, Perennials worksheet, Harvest and Food Processing Calendars, Veg Finder, and Phenology Chart. Week 2: Revise Fall Brassicas Spreadsheet, Onion Plan and Log, Sweet Potato Plan. Revise and post Paracrew Invitation. Week 3: Write Seed Saving Letter. Revise Blueberry Map and Log, Grape Map and Log. Week 4: Revise Crop Planting Specs sheet, revise Garden Planning Calendar, File notes, prune files.
Lettuce Factory: Sow lettuce #3, 4 in flats (short-day fast varieties, every 14 days).
Spread compost & till beds for spinach, beets, favas, lettuce, onions, little alliums, turnips, senposai, kohlrabi, cabbage, kale, collards when soil dry enough. Till beds for carrots 1-3, with or without compost.
#1 Spring Tractor Work –Compost and disk areas for broccoli and potatoes when dry enough, or till.
Early Feb: in greenhouse sow: cabbage, collards, senposai, kale, kohlrabi, broccoli #1, celery, celeriac
Sow spinach outdoors if Jan sowings fail: 4oz/bed pre-sprouted. Transplantspinach from hoophouse [or flats].
Sow fava beans (seed is in peas bucket). Plant small potato onions if not done in January.
Mid-month:in greenhouse: Sow lettuce #3, and resow hoophouse peppers as needed. Spot cabbage,lettuce#3, hoophouse peppers, kale, collards, and harden off.
February pepper seedlings in the greenhouse Photo Kathryn Simmons
Sowcarrots #1 outdoors with indicator beets. Flameweed. Finish planting spinach, (direct sow if not enough transplants).
Buyseed potatoes mid-month and set out to greensprout (chit) before planting: 65°F (19°C) and light.
[Strawberries: plant new bought plants, if applicable.]
Late Feb,sowcarrots # 2 (flameweed);
Really finish transplanting spinach. If needed, presprout 4oz/bed spinach for 1 week before sowing.
Till and sow areas for clover cover crops (eg grapes, eggplant beds), or oats, from 2/15.
Transplant fall-sown onions ½-3/4” deep, when no thicker than pencils. Weed over-wintered spinach, kale, collards.
In greenhouse sow broccoli #2 (2 weeks after 2nd), (shallots), lettuce #4, hoophouse cukes.
Perennials: Finish weeding. Give compost, if not done in fall, including strawberries and grapes. See list for January. Transplant bushes, canes, crowns if needed. Mulch. Finish pruning blueberries, ribes. Prune grapes before 3/21 – see last year’s log notes about replacement limbs needed, etc. Summer raspberries: cut out old canes. Install irrigation. Prepare sites for new grapevines, if needed.
Vates kale over-wintered Photo Twin Oaks Community
Large Smooth Prague Celeriac Photo credit Southern Exposure Seed Exchange
This week in the garden we have started fall clean-up. We packed away the rowcovers preserving the last rows of green beans, squash and cucumbers, and harvested the last of those crops. Two nights with lows of 22F made it clear it was time. We removed the okra and eggplant “trees”, and pulled up the t-posts from the tomato rows and the asparagus beans. We bundled the asparagus bean trellis netting, along with the bean vines, and tied it up in the rafters of our greenhouse. It will stay there till spring when we will dance on the bundle in the parking lot and shake out the dried bits of vine, so we can use the netting for the 2013 crop.
We discovered we can use our power-washer to clean the t-posts before storing them. This saves a lot of time, and converts the job from a tedious chore with knives and wire brushes into a “power rangers” opportunity. We like to get the posts really clean before storing them to reduce the chance of carrying over soil-borne tomato diseases to next season.
White Egg turnip Photo credit Southern Exposure Seed Exchange
We have started clearing crops which are less cold-tolerant. This week we are working on the vegetables that get killed at temperatures of 25°F and 20°F. Fall weather in our part of Virginia doesn’t usually get this cold this early, but there’s no arguing with it. We’ve got the Chinese cabbage (Napa cabbage) in and we’re going for the small bit of bulb fennel soon (both 25°F crops). We’re picking the broccoli twice a week as long as it lasts, although yields are right down now. Next we’re after the celeriac, turnips (no rutabagas this year), and winter radishes. Sadly our fall beets all failed, so we don’t need to dig those. We still have some from the spring crop in good condition in perforated plastic bags in the fridge. Kohlrabi, cabbage, carrots and parsnips are more cold-tolerant, so they can wait to get harvested in a few weeks. We still have lettuce and celery outdoors under rowcover and hoops. And some of the greens and hardier leeks will feed us all through the winter. Twin Oaks is now in Climate Zone 7a. This means the range of the average annual minimum temperature is 0°F to 5°F.
Popping garlic cloves in preparation for planting Photo credit Southern Exposure Seed Exhcange
We’re getting ready to plant garlic. The soil has certainly cooled down enough this year! We decided to cut back our total amount of garlic planted this year for two or three reasons. One is that we think we’ll still have enough if we plant 16% less, and maybe we’ll be less wasteful. Another is that we hope the time we’ll save at harvest and curing will enable us to take better care of what we have got, and less will get wasted that way. Another is that it will help our crop rotation in the raised beds, where we grow a lot of alliums – garlic and potato onions over the winter, onions in spring, shallots and scallions in the mix, and leeks from mid-summer to late winter. Sometimes doing a smaller amount well is more productive than over-extending ourselves with a big crop.
Yesterday we started separating the garlic cloves (“popping” the cloves) at our annual Crop Review meeting. This is when the crew gathers to work through an alphabetical list of crops we grew and talk about what worked and what didn’t and what we want to do differently next year. We plan to try a small amount of West Indian gherkins as an alternative to pickling cucumbers, which seemed plagued by disease. (I saw some very robust gherkins growing at Monticello in September.) We’re looking for a heat-tolerant eggplant variety to trial alongside our well-liked Nadia, which shut down during the early summer heat. We intend to make smaller plantings of edamame next year, and harvest smaller amounts more often, so less goes to waste. We want to try Sugar Flash snap peas and another dwarf early-yielding type of snow peas. (Dwarf Grey works for us, but Oregon Giant didn’t). We’re going to try some purple bush beans to see if that helps us get harvests of nice small beans and fewer ugly giants in the buckets. We debated the harvest size of okra and asparagus too. We vowed to grow fewer different varieties of broccoli and try to find a decent red cabbage. This year we tried Integro, Ruby Perfection and Mammoth Red, but none produced a good amount of nice sized heads. We used to be happy with Super Red 80, but gave it up after two bad years. next year we’ll try Red Express. We strategised about to get red sweet peppers as early as possible.
As the tasks to do outdoors start to wind down, we’re upping the pace of our winter planning season. Our next tasks include doing an inventory of the seeds we still have and figuring out our garden plan, so that we can work towards ordering the seeds we want in sensible quantities.
Garlic shoots emerging through the mulch in November
November -The End is in Sight
During the month
Lettuce Factory: Sow lettuce in hoophouse, for January transplants.
Write Thank You Letter to Paracrew (part-time workers)
Early November: Finish up sowing cover crops in Nov. Can sow winter wheat in early November (won’t winter-kill). Sow wheat or rye in carrot beds by 11/30(?), or if too late for cover crops, just spread carrot tops on beds.
Sowonions to overwinter in hoophouse.
Plant hard-neck garlic when soil temp at 4″ deep is 50°F, and mulch immediately, not too thickly.
Plant soft-neck garlic.
Plant leftover small garlic cloves for garlic scallions and garlic greens.
Potato onions: till beds. 11/1-12/1: Plant medium-size (1½-2” diameter) potato onions, at 6”, or wider if supply is limited. Cover with ½-1” soil, then mulch. If planning a January planting of small potato onions, prep bed and roll mulch now.
Sow spinach (for spring harvesting) in early November if not done already.
Mid November: Free trapped garlic shoots from over-thick mulch, when 50% emerged.
Coverlettuce, spinach (“burns” below 10°F), celery, zukes & cukes and Chinese cabbage. Use double hoops for the spinach, celery, and the last lettuce bed.
Harvest: celeriac (hardy to 20°F), beets (15-20°F), turnips(20°F), kohlrabi (15°F), winter radish (20°F), rutabagas (OK to 20°F), carrots (12°F), parsnips (0°F) in that order. Wash and store in perforated plastic bags in walk-in cooler. Record yields.
After curing, store boxes of sweet potatoes in basement cage (55-60°F, 80-90% humidity).
Sortwhite potatoes in storage 2 weeks after harvest.
Spread lime or gypsum as needed, referring to soil analysis results.
Potato Onions: sell small ones (<1½”) or store on racks until January. Ideal conditions 32-40°F, 60-70% humidity, good ventilation, layers < 4” deep. Do not seem to suffer from freezing.
Winterize the rototillers and BCS mower.
Planning:
Week 1: Check the accounts and prepare Budget Requests for economic planning. Write Informant. Revise Seed Inventory spreadsheet.
Week 2: Inventory seeds
Week 3: Inventory seeds
Week 4: Seed Inventory: proof reading, etc. File notes.
Perennials: Cut dead asparagus tops with weed whackers or machetes, and remove all ferns. Weed strawberries and spread sawdust in aisles. Weed and fertilize rhubarb, blueberries, asparagus, and spread cardboard and sawdust, (hay for asparagus if possible). Weed grapes, take vine cuttings. Transplant new blueberries if needed.
November Harvests: last outdoor lettuce (hardy to 15°F with rowcover), beets (15-20°F), broccoli (25°F), cabbage (12°F), cauliflower, celeriac (20°F), celery (15°F with rowcover), chard (10°F), fall greens, collards (5°F), fennel (25°F), kale (0°F), kohlrabi (15°F), komatsuna (15°F), leeks (fall leeks hardy to 12-20°F, winter ones to 5°F or lower), parsnips (0°F), scallions (25°F), senposai (12°F), spinach (0°F), tatsoi (10°F), turnips (20°F), yukina savoy (10°F).
December – Time to Rest
Perennials: see November. Cut fall raspberry canes (after leaves have dropped) with pruners, to the ground. Weed raspberries. Hang blueberry drip tape in the branches. Dig docks from asparagus patch.
Plant mediumpotato onions, if not done in November.
Drain and store the hoses and irrigation. Clean up stakes, labels.
Planning:
Week 1: Prepare seed order spreadsheet. Decide seed order.
Week 2: Revise Lettuce List, lettuce Log. Spend last of money. Check expenditures and spend remaining budget. File the year’s accumulated notes.
Week 3: Put your feet up and read seed catalogs and inspiring gardening books
Week 4: Put your feet up and read seed catalogs and inspiring gardening books
December Harvests: cold frame spinach or lettuce, cabbage (hardy to12°F), celery (15°F with rowcover), chard (10°F), collards (5°F), kale (0°F), komatsuna, leeks (fall leeks hardy to 12-20°F, winter ones to 10°F or lower), parsnips (0°F), senposai (12°F), spinach (0°F), yukina savoy (10°F).
Winter Squash in storage at Twin Oaks potato onion planting, potato onion storage,
