Onion seed sowing!

[jmsieglaff]

At planting out after a number of haircuts this is how they looked.

[jmsieglaff]

And in the ground.

[wally mcgee]

Last year I had such good luck with growing Walla Walla and Ailsa Craig onions I thought I would try a few more varieties as the previous two are sweet onions and not storage onions. We were able to use the Ailsa Craig onions until X-mas though.

The picture is some onions in my hoop house waiting for me to get them in the ground.

[taboule]

Wally,I like what you did with these containers, the cutouts. Mini-sip?

I started taking my babies out to soak some sun rays. And... tada... my first plantings, some Earliana cabbage and Iceberg lettuce. I simply cleaned a small patch in a bed and dropped them in. Much more cleaning to do, and higher temps, before I go full bore.

[wally mcgee]

The containers work well for me. I usually start most of my plants in bathroom cups. I the above picture the cabbages and broccoli are in them.

I drill the lids with the appropriate hole and put layers of Styrofoam to raise the bottom up to the bottom of the cups and line them with plastic. It lets me water them from the bottom( I put holes in the bottom of the cups. When I pot up I just change lids. It works well for me.

[jmsieglaff]

It's a very creative setup, very nice! When will you plant your onions out?

[greenthumbomaha]

My onions are out. I started a batch from seed but bought a pack from Bonnie plants as a backup, and I also planted sets. The Bonnie plants were thick like scallions. My onion seedlings were thin like yours.

My leek seedlings looked much fatter than the Bonnie plants, which are sold in a 4 inch pot , not a bunch.

Next year I'll tackle shallots. If anyone is growing shallots, do share!

- Lisa

[Redbaron]

Originally Posted by greenthumbomaha

My onions are out. I started a batch from seed but bought a pack from Bonnie plants as a backup, and I also planted sets. The Bonnie plants were thick like scallions. My onion seedlings were thin like yours.

My leek seedlings looked much fatter than the Bonnie plants, which are sold in a 4 inch pot , not a bunch.

Next year I'll tackle shallots. If anyone is growing shallots, do share!

- Lisa

I am growing shallots. Unfortunately I can't give any advise though. It's my first year ever trying to grow them. All I did was buy some sets and plant them like onions. Hopefully that will work.

[Marcus1]

I am growing shallots. The variety is Zebrune from SSE , sometimes called chicken leg. They are oblong shaped and will get up to 6 oz. I started the seeds in 408 plug trays the beginning of Jan. and planted them on April 10. This was the first year using the plug trays, always planted 50 seeds in 4" pots before, I won't go back. The plugs were so much easier to plant since the roots were confined and didn't have to root prune or divide to plant in dribble holes. Plus the plants were much nicer sized. Also started onions and leeks in the plug trays. I used to plant sets of Dutch yellow in the fall but there were to many little ones. Love the flavor of shallots and they store better than onions plus they are a nice when you don't need a whole onion.
Good luck
Marcus

[wally mcgee]

I have set some of them out. I hope to have the rest of them in the ground early next week. I'm a behind this year but have been setting a few things out every night or so. So far I have broccoli, cabbage, lettuce, and some onions set out. I'm getting older and slower but hopefully a little smarter.

I cut my first head of lettuce out of the hoop house a few days ago, and pulled some radishes so I guess I'm up and running. looking forward to getting my tomatoes in the ground.

[wally mcgee]

I always wanted to try shallots but didn't know how they would do in Iowa. I have very heavy soil. I didn't know if I would have to amend a bed with sand or not. Any advice?