Breaking Spring Ground!

[mattie g]

The subject says it all!

This past Saturday, I got out in some fine early-spring weather (low-50s and sun with a little wind) to get my early planting done. The weather hasn't cooperated very well ere in the mid-Atlantic this spring, so it was great to get out and finally get my early stuff in the ground!

In any case, I got out for a few hours and - to my complete and utter surprise - I was able to plant nearly the full two bunches of onion plants I ordered (Copra and Super Star). Somehow, I have a total of 114 onion plants in the ground! Now...that may not be a lot for some of you, but I don't have a ton of room in my garden, so it's unbelieveable to me that I was able to fit them all in. We opened up a little more room on the edges after taking out some dahlias last fall, so that was a HUGE help in making space for all of the onions. I planted them five inches apart, with six inches between rows, and I'll give them good doses of tea over the next few months. I know that's not ideal, but I'm not looking for massive onions - just plenty of good onions that will store for a while. With that many onions, we won't need them to be too big.

My garlic is getting nice and strong, too. I planted Music and Inchelium Red in the early-November timframe - both established themsleves really well over the winter and are starting their spring growth now. I have about 25-30 plants of each of those. I also have 12 shallots that really took off in the fall, but have exploded with growth in the last month or so. Incredible!

Finally, I planted peas and carrots for the first time. My family used to grow both when I was growing up, but this is the first time I've done either on my own. The carrots (Scarlet Nantes) are in a long, deep window planter (on the ground) and the peas are in the ground. I can't wait until they start to sprout. I'm getting so impatient!

My tomatoes and peppers arrive in three weeks or so. Hopefully the cool spring doesn't persist so I can harden them off for a week and then get them planted. After they go in, my herbs and beans (first time for those, too) will soon follow in the hopes that my first shot at being really ambitious with my gardening goes down well!

[jal_ut]

You are off to a good start. Yes, you will have some nice onions. Nice thing about onions, you can pull a few as needed for green onions all summer.

[mattie g]

Very true, jal. I forgot to mention that I deep-planted and crowded some onion plants (ten or so) in a container to grow as green onions/scallions, so I already have those. But if it looks like some of the yellow or white onions could use a little extra room to put on size I'll go ahead and pull some if their neighbors to let them breathe. With that many onions for just the wife and me (our little girl is too young for onions yet), I really can't go wrong with thinning a bit.

I'm really excited for the garlic. These plants look SO much stronger than the ones I planted for last year's harvest. We got mostly small bulbs last year with a few medium/small thrown in, but that was a learning experience more than anything. I did a lot more research for this year and took note of mistakes I made last year, so hopefully it turns out like I hope and expect it will.

One of my favorite things to do with my produce is make salsa. And this year I'll have all the vegetable ingredients for my salsa come right out of my garden: tomatoes, onions, garlic, jalapenos, habaneros, and cilantro. The spices and honey come from elsewhere, but the majority is from my own backyard. What an amazing feeling to make a product with home-grown ingredients!

[mattie g]

Update:

In general, the onions have been growing pretty well. They took a couple weeks to get established, but we're looking good. The Super Stars seem to be settling a bit better than the Copras (some of the Copras aren't looking too healthy), but overall I think I should have quite a good onion crop if they keep going like this. The garlic has grown like wildfire in the last 10 days. It warmed up really good here during that time, and the garlic took full advantage of it. The shallots are following suit - I may have a few real monster shallots when all is said and done!

The peas and carrots have started to sprout. I probably have about a 75% germination rate on the peas, and something similar with the carrots, which I've started thinning a little. I also added a second row of carrots to help keep a continuouos harvest going.

I sowed dill and cilantro two weekends ago, some of which have started to sprout. I also threw a few old cucumber seeds in the ground just to see what would happen. Nothing yet. And just this past weekend I sowed my first-ever bean seeds! Edamame will probably go in in a week or two, depending on the forecast.

Tomatoes and peppers haven't arrived yet. They should be here this week, and I'm getting anxious, so I may have to bother the nursery if I don't get them today. Once they're hardened off, I'll plant them along with a couple basil plants from the local nursery, and maybe some parsley. I hope to get a few pictures this weekend...

Gotta love spring!!!

[mattie g]

Oh...I forgot to ask:

It's about time for me to give the onions a little boost. Does anyone have a good recommendation for an organic fertilizer for onions? Compost tea? Fish emulsion? Composted manure sprinkled on the bed? Composted manure tea?

[btrowe1]

Your garden sounds a lot like what I do, I;m just in the beginning, garlic just sprouted, onions are in, 500 with 48 set up as greens types?? (planted close together, I have the room, Maters are coming, peppers also, want to do the cabbages and broccoli, (see the thread) carrots are on the list, peas are just little little tikes. beans come in to play later.

I think its fun to plant stuff in the ground and watch it grow, the neighbors come check it over give you accolades and say they want something, I like to something for something approach but, one can only do so much with so many tomatoes and zucchinis.

I use jacks classic so not an organic, but it makes my stuff amazing things. And the wifes flowers look good too

Good luck this year.

[mattie g]

And I thought 114 planted for bulbing onions, and another 15 or so as green onions was a lot! 500 plants?!

My peas are still really small, too. I planted them a little late because I didn't have the time to get out and work the garden at all until late-March due to being busy and the really bad March weather we had. Under normal circumstances, I probably could have gotten them in the ground a few weeks earlier.

I'm imaptient, but I also simply love watching things grow. Being able to produce food on your own property is quite an amazing feeling. I'm also a big fisherman, and I get the same feeling when I bring smething home to cook for dinner. I've really got that old hunter-gatherer thing going on!

Thanks for the recommendation. I try to grow organic unless there's a really pressing need, so I'll keep looking around to get a feel for a good organic fertilizer for my onions unless they're starting to look pretty sad!