I planned my garden assuming shared space, so one thing would go in after another was finished. Sometimes its worked really well (lettuce out, tomatoes in).
Sometimes its worked pretty well (broccoli out, peppers in but great side shoots on broccoli have made me reluctant to clear it). Sometimes there has been no cooperation (tomatoes are in, but shallots and onions seemingly have little interest in finishing up).
So I have questions:
1) Why are my shallots and onions taking so long to finish up? How long should it take? Is there a way to encourage them or to expedite their readiness for harvest?
2) How do you decide when its time to pull your peas? They produced and then looked like they were ready for the great beyond, but now the tips are looking green, healthy, and with buds again. So is it time to pull them or honor their persistence?
3) My carrots and beets have been hanging around longer than I expected them to without being ready. Beets and carrots have been in for about 60+ days but are just starting to bulk up. Could it be that the soil is missing nutrients? For what its worth, I've been providing them with compost around the base of the plants, fertilizing them with fish emulsion, and periodically providing them with epsom salts. Anything else I can do?
Thanks for any suggestions you might have, including "chill out, KitchenGardener!"
-
KitchenGardener
- Senior Member
- Posts: 274
- Joined: Mon Apr 25, 2016 8:30 pm
- Location: Northern California; Hardiness Zone 10a, Climate zone: 17
-
rainbowgardener
- Super Green Thumb
- Posts: 25279
- Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2009 6:04 pm
- Location: TN/GA 7b
chill out, Kitchen Gardener! 
Plants go at their own pace, which is genetically programmed. It is affected some by weather and conditions, but you can't really speed them up. I haven't grown shallots, but they are in the onion family and onions are VERY slow. You didn't say if you started your onion from seeds or sets or what. When I have done seeds, I plant them in the fall. The onions sprout and then go dormant for the winter. Late winter they start growing again. For me in zone 6 with cold winters, the onions weren't ready to harvest until mid July or so. Planting sets made the process shorter, but that just meant I could plant the sets in spring and harvest in July.
I looked back at my pictures (which is my best record) of my carrots. The carrot seeds were planted in the ground 3/13. By the beginning of April they were just sprouted. By April 18, they were wispy and an inch or two high. Now more than a month later, they look like carrot plants - sturdy and bushy and 6-7 inches high. I haven't pulled any, but there are probably some tiny baby carrots there. And that is early for me because I'm in zone 7b now. Looking back at some old posts here, when I was a zone 6 gardener (2015 was very little gardening, it was getting our house ready to sell, making house hunting trips, packing, moving etc) June 25, 2014 I wrote "I could start thinning carrots by eating the babies." By July 21 that year I was including carrots in what I was eating from the garden. I don't harvest carrots in the sense of going out and pulling them all at once. I just pull them when I will use them. So the last carrots stay in my garden until frost. So I don't think there is anything wrong with your soil or your carrots.
When to pull things is always a problem. I do the same thing with succession planting. I put broccoli down the edges of the bed, planted about a month before the average last frost date. Then I put the tomato transplants in the middle, after all danger of frost is past. Then by the time the tomato plants are getting big and need the space, I pull the broccoli. That usually means pulling the broccoli when it might still produce a few more side shoots, but oh well! In a small garden, you have to make space where you can.
Plants go at their own pace, which is genetically programmed. It is affected some by weather and conditions, but you can't really speed them up. I haven't grown shallots, but they are in the onion family and onions are VERY slow. You didn't say if you started your onion from seeds or sets or what. When I have done seeds, I plant them in the fall. The onions sprout and then go dormant for the winter. Late winter they start growing again. For me in zone 6 with cold winters, the onions weren't ready to harvest until mid July or so. Planting sets made the process shorter, but that just meant I could plant the sets in spring and harvest in July.
I looked back at my pictures (which is my best record) of my carrots. The carrot seeds were planted in the ground 3/13. By the beginning of April they were just sprouted. By April 18, they were wispy and an inch or two high. Now more than a month later, they look like carrot plants - sturdy and bushy and 6-7 inches high. I haven't pulled any, but there are probably some tiny baby carrots there. And that is early for me because I'm in zone 7b now. Looking back at some old posts here, when I was a zone 6 gardener (2015 was very little gardening, it was getting our house ready to sell, making house hunting trips, packing, moving etc) June 25, 2014 I wrote "I could start thinning carrots by eating the babies." By July 21 that year I was including carrots in what I was eating from the garden. I don't harvest carrots in the sense of going out and pulling them all at once. I just pull them when I will use them. So the last carrots stay in my garden until frost. So I don't think there is anything wrong with your soil or your carrots.
When to pull things is always a problem. I do the same thing with succession planting. I put broccoli down the edges of the bed, planted about a month before the average last frost date. Then I put the tomato transplants in the middle, after all danger of frost is past. Then by the time the tomato plants are getting big and need the space, I pull the broccoli. That usually means pulling the broccoli when it might still produce a few more side shoots, but oh well! In a small garden, you have to make space where you can.
Good response, Rainbow'! We will each have different schedules, mostly because of climate.
Heat units are important, especially for my garden but for many. Growing degree days would make much more sense than a days-to-maturity. This may be especially true for me where accumulated warmth runs neck-and-neck with Devils Lake North Dakota, most years. Still, plant response to warmth varies. Broccoli grow at lower temperatures than melons, of course. Days and weeks with highs around 60°f and lows in the 40's are fine for broccoli. The melons will grow not 1mm!
High temperatures may also suppress growth. Once again, it depends on the species and variety of the plants. Experience in your environment is the best guide. Farm fields are usually monocrop affairs. A farmer's succession crops may have to do with acres of sweet corn, supplying a supermarket chain. There is no mixing of species and horticultural information is available for that kind of production whereas gardeners are generally left looking over their back fence or winging it. Good notes in a garden journal can really help, year to year.
No amount of fertilizer will likely speed things along unless there is a real problem with nutrient uptake. By the way, I once retarded the growth of my greens crop by using too much Epsom salts and decided to leave it completely out of any fertilizer schedule in subsequent years.
Were your shallots and onions directly-sown? I have shallots again that way in 2016, they will take a full season to mature, here. The garden sowing of onion seed has not worked well for me. I start several varieties in an unheated greenhouse in February and set them out as tiny things at about the the earliest opportunity. They are still small and totally unlike what I could have put in from plants purchased from Texas, for example. Still, they will grow nearly as large and be harvested beginning in July as would the purchased plants. Day-length is important in that process, along with weather. Those onions are by themselves. They can tolerate little competition.
Onions from sets are in "salad beds" with lettuce and such. I'm harvesting all of that now and have been. Directly sown seed for spinach, arugula, radish ... works fine. The lettuce was started a little early in the greenhouse in successive sowings; some of those plants have not even been set out, yet. Those onions will soon pass their prime as scallions and I'm disinclined to keep them to form bulbs. I've got plenty of sweet onions for that. Bunching onions also - so as the sets come out, harvesting the bunching onions along with the salad greens can begin. Those were started on the same schedule as the bulbing sweets - which can be pulled as green onions, also. They are just a little later and because they are hurrying on to bulb, at the scallion stage for only a short time.
Shallots also make nice green onions and if I want a special treat, I'll harvest a few of the ones that went in as sets. Usually, I leave those valuable shallots alone until those sets have multiplied and matured in July. Remember, the ones from seed won't reach maturity until September.
Carrots. I like to grow quick-maturing, short varieties like Nelson Nantes. Here, I run into conflict with DW, who likes long, Imperator-types. But, our rocky garden soil isn't the best for those! Still, I try ... Pelleted carrot seed is great for extending the sowing season for me from early April pretty much through June. Otherwise, I'm left with a narrow window in April when the surface soil will stay moist enough and temperatures are adequately warm. Carrot seed can take weeks to emerge and lots can go wrong. Those little clay pellets with the seed encased are good insurance.
A good combination in a bed is early cabbage or broccoli set out early and summer squash sown in late June. The brassica can be harvested in July and the squash has time to produce before a first frost, especially if it doesn't come before October.
Bush beans are my succession crop of first choice until mid-July. I've got so many green beans late, I'm reluctant to plant many in the spring and have few pole beans. Peas can be succession sown for only a few weeks in early spring. They burn up or have mildew so bad by mid-July, they are not worth keeping. Notice that on my schedule, the peas can come out and the beans can go into their space.
Last year, I tried sowing some radish seed near the rows and in the shade of sweet corn during mid to late summer. That worked. This year, I think I'll add spinach and lettuce seed in that scheme
. Those can go with the, mostly Asian, greens which were sown following the harvest of early varieties of potatoes beginning before and by August first ....
It's all an on-going process and, probably, location-specific. Experiment and Have Fun!
Steve
Heat units are important, especially for my garden but for many. Growing degree days would make much more sense than a days-to-maturity. This may be especially true for me where accumulated warmth runs neck-and-neck with Devils Lake North Dakota, most years. Still, plant response to warmth varies. Broccoli grow at lower temperatures than melons, of course. Days and weeks with highs around 60°f and lows in the 40's are fine for broccoli. The melons will grow not 1mm!
High temperatures may also suppress growth. Once again, it depends on the species and variety of the plants. Experience in your environment is the best guide. Farm fields are usually monocrop affairs. A farmer's succession crops may have to do with acres of sweet corn, supplying a supermarket chain. There is no mixing of species and horticultural information is available for that kind of production whereas gardeners are generally left looking over their back fence or winging it. Good notes in a garden journal can really help, year to year.
No amount of fertilizer will likely speed things along unless there is a real problem with nutrient uptake. By the way, I once retarded the growth of my greens crop by using too much Epsom salts and decided to leave it completely out of any fertilizer schedule in subsequent years.
Were your shallots and onions directly-sown? I have shallots again that way in 2016, they will take a full season to mature, here. The garden sowing of onion seed has not worked well for me. I start several varieties in an unheated greenhouse in February and set them out as tiny things at about the the earliest opportunity. They are still small and totally unlike what I could have put in from plants purchased from Texas, for example. Still, they will grow nearly as large and be harvested beginning in July as would the purchased plants. Day-length is important in that process, along with weather. Those onions are by themselves. They can tolerate little competition.
Onions from sets are in "salad beds" with lettuce and such. I'm harvesting all of that now and have been. Directly sown seed for spinach, arugula, radish ... works fine. The lettuce was started a little early in the greenhouse in successive sowings; some of those plants have not even been set out, yet. Those onions will soon pass their prime as scallions and I'm disinclined to keep them to form bulbs. I've got plenty of sweet onions for that. Bunching onions also - so as the sets come out, harvesting the bunching onions along with the salad greens can begin. Those were started on the same schedule as the bulbing sweets - which can be pulled as green onions, also. They are just a little later and because they are hurrying on to bulb, at the scallion stage for only a short time.
Shallots also make nice green onions and if I want a special treat, I'll harvest a few of the ones that went in as sets. Usually, I leave those valuable shallots alone until those sets have multiplied and matured in July. Remember, the ones from seed won't reach maturity until September.
Carrots. I like to grow quick-maturing, short varieties like Nelson Nantes. Here, I run into conflict with DW, who likes long, Imperator-types. But, our rocky garden soil isn't the best for those! Still, I try ... Pelleted carrot seed is great for extending the sowing season for me from early April pretty much through June. Otherwise, I'm left with a narrow window in April when the surface soil will stay moist enough and temperatures are adequately warm. Carrot seed can take weeks to emerge and lots can go wrong. Those little clay pellets with the seed encased are good insurance.
A good combination in a bed is early cabbage or broccoli set out early and summer squash sown in late June. The brassica can be harvested in July and the squash has time to produce before a first frost, especially if it doesn't come before October.
Bush beans are my succession crop of first choice until mid-July. I've got so many green beans late, I'm reluctant to plant many in the spring and have few pole beans. Peas can be succession sown for only a few weeks in early spring. They burn up or have mildew so bad by mid-July, they are not worth keeping. Notice that on my schedule, the peas can come out and the beans can go into their space.
Last year, I tried sowing some radish seed near the rows and in the shade of sweet corn during mid to late summer. That worked. This year, I think I'll add spinach and lettuce seed in that scheme
. Those can go with the, mostly Asian, greens which were sown following the harvest of early varieties of potatoes beginning before and by August first ....It's all an on-going process and, probably, location-specific. Experiment and Have Fun!
Steve
-
jal_ut
- Super Green Thumb
- Posts: 7447
- Joined: Sun Jan 18, 2009 10:20 pm
- Location: Northern Utah Zone 5
Here at this high elevation and cool area, the advertised "Days to Maturity" are good where the seeds were developed, but it is likely to take ten days longer here. So 90 day crops will take 100 to 105 days.
Personally I prefer to give each crop its own space. I have never used the "Companion Schemes". Full sun is the best!
Here April plantings include: carrots, spinach, onions, chard, radish. May plantings: corn, squash, beans, radish.
June 1 plant cucumbers, corn and radish. I also make a later planting of corn about June 21 so the harvest is spread out.
Personally I prefer to give each crop its own space. I have never used the "Companion Schemes". Full sun is the best!
Here April plantings include: carrots, spinach, onions, chard, radish. May plantings: corn, squash, beans, radish.
June 1 plant cucumbers, corn and radish. I also make a later planting of corn about June 21 so the harvest is spread out.
-
KitchenGardener
- Senior Member
- Posts: 274
- Joined: Mon Apr 25, 2016 8:30 pm
- Location: Northern California; Hardiness Zone 10a, Climate zone: 17
You know, I typically keep a gardening journal and write down when planted, seeds/sets/seedlings, when transplanted, when harvests begin, etc. I was too lazy this year so I'm paying the price for it, as I have no memory and it just seems like everything I want to be done with should be ready by now. Fact is, I'm not sure when I actually got things successfully in the ground.
So homework for me: 1) chillax and enjoy; 2) do a gardening journal for sure next year.
I started the shallots from sets in mid-February. In addition, although I thought I'd harvested all the shallots from last year, one came up of its own accord. Now I can't tell which is the overwintered volunteer as they are all big clusters with healthy and bountiful tops. I know I'm being impatient - a trait with which I'm quite familiar - but geez, the next guests are waiting for their room and don't want to have roommates.
Onions were planted from sickly seedlings (I took pity on them in the garden store) in early March. It took a few weeks for them to turn it around, but they have grown like gangbusters since: huge, thick stalks and great green tops. But the walla wallas are just thinking about bulbing up; the red onions are not only thinking about it, but actually beginning to bulb, yay!
I guess I have to go get another hobby to keep me preoccupied while I wait...and wait...and wait.
Oh, and thanks everyone for guidance on carrots. I repeatedly tried to plant them in the garden in February with only very limited and sporadic success. Probably mid-March, I finally planted carrot seeds in a huge terra cotta pot at least 3' x 3' and they are doing very well. Don't know what exactly made the difference - later in the season so more warmth? Better soil in pot? or perhaps just warmer soil in the pot? Don't know, but am just happy that they are so healthy. When I've thinned them, I've enjoyed teeny tiny carrot flavored roots (really can't even claim they are carrots yet, ha ha) so I know we're going in the right direction. Its just that I want the satisfaction of pulling a carrot out of the ground now. I'll try and suppress my desire and instead go read about carrots, and onions and shallots, I suppose.
So homework for me: 1) chillax and enjoy; 2) do a gardening journal for sure next year.
I started the shallots from sets in mid-February. In addition, although I thought I'd harvested all the shallots from last year, one came up of its own accord. Now I can't tell which is the overwintered volunteer as they are all big clusters with healthy and bountiful tops. I know I'm being impatient - a trait with which I'm quite familiar - but geez, the next guests are waiting for their room and don't want to have roommates.
Onions were planted from sickly seedlings (I took pity on them in the garden store) in early March. It took a few weeks for them to turn it around, but they have grown like gangbusters since: huge, thick stalks and great green tops. But the walla wallas are just thinking about bulbing up; the red onions are not only thinking about it, but actually beginning to bulb, yay!
I guess I have to go get another hobby to keep me preoccupied while I wait...and wait...and wait.
Oh, and thanks everyone for guidance on carrots. I repeatedly tried to plant them in the garden in February with only very limited and sporadic success. Probably mid-March, I finally planted carrot seeds in a huge terra cotta pot at least 3' x 3' and they are doing very well. Don't know what exactly made the difference - later in the season so more warmth? Better soil in pot? or perhaps just warmer soil in the pot? Don't know, but am just happy that they are so healthy. When I've thinned them, I've enjoyed teeny tiny carrot flavored roots (really can't even claim they are carrots yet, ha ha) so I know we're going in the right direction. Its just that I want the satisfaction of pulling a carrot out of the ground now. I'll try and suppress my desire and instead go read about carrots, and onions and shallots, I suppose.
-
applestar
- Mod
- Posts: 30543
- Joined: Thu May 01, 2008 7:21 pm
- Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)
Two easy ways to journal --
1) Take pictures of everything and rely on date and time -- turn on date/time stamping or use the photo file embedded data accessed by compatible apps.
2) Use your phone's calendar app and just make entries for each day -- but be sure to export or otherwise save if you have auto-erase/periodical de-cluttering turned on. I'm upgraded to a journaling app with calendar feature now.
3) post on the forum every day
1) Take pictures of everything and rely on date and time -- turn on date/time stamping or use the photo file embedded data accessed by compatible apps.
2) Use your phone's calendar app and just make entries for each day -- but be sure to export or otherwise save if you have auto-erase/periodical de-cluttering turned on. I'm upgraded to a journaling app with calendar feature now.
3) post on the forum every day
-
Gary350
- Super Green Thumb
- Posts: 7420
- Joined: Mon Mar 23, 2009 1:59 pm
- Location: TN. 50 years of gardening experience.
I live 30 miles south of Nashville TN, spring is rain and mud from March to May, summer is too hot here to plant those crops they will all go to seed. I plant cold weather 3rd week of Aug so they are up and growing 4th week of August. We sometimes get frost about Halloween last of Oct. Most of those crops do good with frost. I bought my seeds 2 weeks ago no one around here sells garden plants in August. I have broccoli, peas, Chinese cabbage, chard, carrots, beets, turnip greens, spinach. I might plant more potatoes again 3rd week of August. I plant garlic in Sept. I have good luck with Denver half long carrots.
-
KitchenGardener
- Senior Member
- Posts: 274
- Joined: Mon Apr 25, 2016 8:30 pm
- Location: Northern California; Hardiness Zone 10a, Climate zone: 17
So my onions are long day onions, which for my area is supposed to be correct. My onions are big, healthy, plants. They are just starting to bulb. Day length will reach its peak on June 20th/21st, which is in 23 days. From the experience of others, will long day onions stop bulbing once the days begin to get shorter again? If my onions now look like fat leeks which are kind of swollen on the bottom where the bulb is forming, will they really bulb up a lot in the next 23 days or is it a lost cause?
Pictures really help. I just take pictures of the garden since they have date time stamps on them. I also use plant tags. I write the days I started the seeds on them. If it is something I haven't planted before sometimes I write the days to maturity on the tag so I know more or less when it should be ready. I have a garden journal, I keep by the door so I can log planting dates but mostly notes on problems like weather , pest problems that show up. It is actually useful in future planning because it seems the pests show up right around the same time of year so I can be on the look out for them and get to them early enough so they don't get out of hand. Usually the garden patrol takes care of most things. I mostly use water and alcohol to spot treat. Snails and slugs are a perennial issue though and I hunt them everytime I go out in the garden.
Right now I am disbudding the budleia because I got it for propagation, but I don't really want to attract butterflies to my cabbages.
Wtih the orchids the tags are the record of divisions, repotting, fertilizing and bloom dates. I can keep records of several years on a tag.
The problem with growing in cooler weather is that packet days to maturity are based on ideal temperatures. They don't usually give you a range for different temperatures. In general carrots are around 70-90 days but can stay in the ground longer if the temperatures are under 70.
Onions take about 5 months for me, onions and garlic are more sensitive to day length than to time of planting. I plant around September -November and the onions are ready May-June.
Beets are 50-90 days depending on how big you want them to be. Beets are dependent on having enough space, low nitrogen and slightly more alkaline soil for best root development. High nitrogen, and crowding will give you tops and not much roots.
Right now I am disbudding the budleia because I got it for propagation, but I don't really want to attract butterflies to my cabbages.
Wtih the orchids the tags are the record of divisions, repotting, fertilizing and bloom dates. I can keep records of several years on a tag.
The problem with growing in cooler weather is that packet days to maturity are based on ideal temperatures. They don't usually give you a range for different temperatures. In general carrots are around 70-90 days but can stay in the ground longer if the temperatures are under 70.
Onions take about 5 months for me, onions and garlic are more sensitive to day length than to time of planting. I plant around September -November and the onions are ready May-June.
Beets are 50-90 days depending on how big you want them to be. Beets are dependent on having enough space, low nitrogen and slightly more alkaline soil for best root development. High nitrogen, and crowding will give you tops and not much roots.
-
KitchenGardener
- Senior Member
- Posts: 274
- Joined: Mon Apr 25, 2016 8:30 pm
- Location: Northern California; Hardiness Zone 10a, Climate zone: 17
Anyone able to offer thoughts on my onion questions? TIAKitchenGardener wrote:So my onions are long day onions, which for my area is supposed to be correct. My onions are big, healthy, plants. They are just starting to bulb. Day length will reach its peak on June 20th/21st, which is in 23 days. From the experience of others, will long day onions stop bulbing once the days begin to get shorter again? If my onions now look like fat leeks which are kind of swollen on the bottom where the bulb is forming, will they really bulb up a lot in the next 23 days or is it a lost cause?
It isn't quite as tho a switch is thrown on the bulbing onions, KitchenGardener. 13+ hours of sunlight is supposed to be needed for intermediate and long-day varieties.
Lots of places where gardeners grow onions, like Fairbanks and Edmonton, have 13 hours of sunlight within just a couple weeks from the March equinox. Hours of daylight are gained quickly that far north! However, they may wait until May to even set out onion plants.
I'm talking thru my hat here ... somewhat, anyway. We need far north gardeners to comment about any special problems they have. Never.the.less ... I garden further north than any point in Maine and about half the population of Canada. Here at ~ 1° short of the 49° North border, my onions are still small. I don't expect any special problems and should have nice bulb onions by the end of July, a month after hitting 16 hours of June sunshine .
Steve
Lots of places where gardeners grow onions, like Fairbanks and Edmonton, have 13 hours of sunlight within just a couple weeks from the March equinox. Hours of daylight are gained quickly that far north! However, they may wait until May to even set out onion plants.
I'm talking thru my hat here ... somewhat, anyway. We need far north gardeners to comment about any special problems they have. Never.the.less ... I garden further north than any point in Maine and about half the population of Canada
. Here at ~ 1° short of the 49° North border, my onions are still small. I don't expect any special problems and should have nice bulb onions by the end of July, a month after hitting 16 hours of June sunshine .Steve
-
jal_ut
- Super Green Thumb
- Posts: 7447
- Joined: Sun Jan 18, 2009 10:20 pm
- Location: Northern Utah Zone 5
Quote: "You know, I typically keep a gardening journal and write down when planted"
Yes, do keep a journal. Unfortunately, the older we get the less our silly brains can hold...........
About onions, I planted a big bag of onion sets, and they are not growing. Give it some time I guess?
I may yet plant some onion seeds.
Yes, do keep a journal. Unfortunately, the older we get the less our silly brains can hold...........
About onions, I planted a big bag of onion sets, and they are not growing. Give it some time I guess?
I may yet plant some onion seeds.
-
KitchenGardener
- Senior Member
- Posts: 274
- Joined: Mon Apr 25, 2016 8:30 pm
- Location: Northern California; Hardiness Zone 10a, Climate zone: 17
Hey RainbowGardener! So happy you told me to chill out. Yes, despite my worrying, the onions and shallots appeared to know exactly what to do after all! The shallots have all come out of the ground now and are in the shed curing, and the walla walla onions have bulbed up! 
The ones that were huge and ready (the size of a medium grapefruit) are out and in the shed as well. But there are some that refuse to stop growing...not quite sure what they think they're doing as they have been in the ground since March and they are not bulbing up much. Can I just pull them anyway and eat them now? They are quite big around, just not as big as the others, and they are still producing new green growth (but no scapes) up top
The ones that were huge and ready (the size of a medium grapefruit) are out and in the shed as well. But there are some that refuse to stop growing...not quite sure what they think they're doing as they have been in the ground since March and they are not bulbing up much. Can I just pull them anyway and eat them now? They are quite big around, just not as big as the others, and they are still producing new green growth (but no scapes) up top-
rainbowgardener
- Super Green Thumb
- Posts: 25279
- Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2009 6:04 pm
- Location: TN/GA 7b
Yes, one of the nice things about growing onions is that you can pull and eat them at any time from green onion size on. Unless it is a very good onion year, I don't usually "harvest" my onion at all (in the sense of going out and picking them all at once). I just start pulling them as green onions, when I need an onion and keep pulling onions as I need them, until they are gone.