stubbed toes and mud pies

[flowerbug]

growing onions from seeds and getting onion sets. i already have pictures (post 406) of this patch above in this thread where i had planted the old onion seeds not expecting too much in return, instead i got quite a pile of onion sets (see picture below).

this is a pic of the onion patch when the onions were growing mid-summer Jul 3 2021, the sets had mostly finished by then and flopped over.

there's four different kinds of onions growing in the onion patch.

and from today a picture of the onion sets in the box flats (mixed with the larger onions which will either be eaten or used for growing more seeds next spring). the smallest of the sets will be used (about 1cm or less in size) because if you plant bigger ones there is a chance they'll bloom which does still produce an edible onion but the flower stalk often distorts the bulb or comes up through it so it isn't like the normal plain onion bulb you would buy in the store.

as you can see they're not particularly clean because the ground was pretty wet the day i got these out of the garden, but once they are dried out well enough then they can be kept in cool and dark storage until next spring's planting time. i will probably layer them on an old towel and then wrap them up and put them in a box. as long as they can breath and are kept dry they might sprout a little bit towards spring but they shouldn't rot.

 

[digitS']

growing onions from seeds and getting onion sets

Interesting.

This is the first year in many when I haven't had sets. There are advantages and disadvantages to planting the sets that are available for me to purchase.

Very early green onions available for the kitchen. Storage onions that are hot and hard and good keepers but not my preference.

The greenhouse gives me the opportunity to start sweet onion seedlings and they can be thinned for green onions. However, that is a harvest several weeks later than what the sets can accomplish.

Steve

 

[flowerbug]

@digitS' the red onions are certainly stronger (we don't mind - we just use less if we are using them fresh in something like an egg salad or potato salad) but the yellow onions you see there are likely sweet onions.

this season all of the sweet onions we grew have a pink tint to them so the seed provider had some crossing going on. we'll eat all those onions up (or the worms will ).

 

[flowerbug]

this pic is from mid August, showing i really needed to fill in that slope some more with thyme.

yesterday i got this edge built back up as the dirt was all washed downhill and then i put some thyme on top of it to hold it in place. so much dirt had gone downhill that the daffodils were halfway out of the ground and i couldn't scrape it any more. hopefully by mid-summer or fall next year this will all be covered up. about a month ago i'd transplanted some thyme to the top right and the ridge along the north edge of the garden to start that growing along there. it looks like it is doing ok, but i have to repair it in spots when the deer trample through.

a different perspective of the bottom part and also showing the thyme ridge to the left that i also transplanted yesterday.

the bottom large area used to be two different sections with a ridge between them but i combined them and leveled the whole area. hopefully by next spring i'll be able to get the whole thing level to where i want it.

the top terraces and ridges for water control (moving it to the right and to the left). i built up the very top edge more and lifted some thyme and also transplanted more on top of the ridge to hope to help hold it in place. that very top border has gotten washed out so many times already so i put in the two backup bigger ridges to take the brunt of things if the top gets washed out yet again. we'll see how this works out. trying to split and redirect the flows from the top gravel area to go around instead of through this garden. it would really help more if i just built up the pathway gravel area above the garden to divert the water around but dirt is easier to move than gravel...

all that is left to do now is to get the far north edge weeded and some of the dirt moved back up there to cover the daffodils back up and then to transplant yet more thyme. i'm glad i have another area that i can raid for more transplants as now i've used up everything available in the north garden itself. the Creeping Thyme is wandering into our pathway down to the back fenced gardens so i can probably get a few dozen starts from there and in between some rocks nearby for that part of the project.

it won't be happening for a few days though because we're due for more rains so i get to shell beans and ponder life here inside looking outside. no rain at the moment but my brother is getting rained on and we'll get a glancing blow by the looks of it and then later on today perhaps more.

looks much better than this pic (from 18 months ago)

 

[digitS']

That all looks pretty special

 

[flowerbug]

That all looks pretty special

View attachment 44406

hahaha! the mosquitoes certainly think i'm on special when i'm out there. it wasn't too bad yesterday and the other day i was out there, but it will be no fun at all when i have to work on that edge to the north - i may have to wait until it gets colder to do that.

 

[flowerbug]

we had a pretty hard downpour this afternoon (about an inch and a half in 20 minutes) and that slightly tested the upper ridge but not enough to show me if the splitting of the flow was working or not. it all held.

the low spot at the bottom is now full of muddy water. none of that water flowed out of there. it'd be a nice spot for a froggy pond.

 

[flowerbug]

the froggy puddle (to be more accurate about it) is full up again this morning. the sun is out and there is a breeze but i doubt i will do anything outside today because the gardens i need to put up for the winter are all mud right now.

 

[flowerbug]

more dirt therapy today as things finally dried out enough where digging wasn't too much of an exercise in walking on mud. i think i have two more sessions before finishing up the current garden i'm working on. the last part has a lot of grass growing into it and plenty of weeds to remove that are also growing in gravel so that is going to take a lot more time than i'd like. some year i'll get the gravel screened out of the dirt so i can get that more easily done. not happening this year - the hoses are already drained and coiled and ready to be put into their winter storage spot.

 

[flowerbug]

planted the garlic today for next summer's harvest. i did not plant any more green garlic since i found out last spring that i just have no time in the spring where i get around to it so to save myself further frustration and angst i'll skip it. as much as i do like the green garlic i guess i just do not like it enough for just me to do it for the moment. since the bigger garlic bulbs are perfectly able to produce plenty of smaller cloves in the future if i ever need to go that route again i'm not really putting much at risk.

so the crop is going to be about 1/20th of what i planted last year in total and about 1/3 of what i planted for larger bulbs that we'll use.

i just sent a note to a friend asking them if they want the rest of the garlic that we won't use here. i put 10 large bulbs in cold storage to use up through the winter and i'll have about 20 cloves in the fridge ready to use if we need some and that is plenty. there's really only a few dishes where i think i must have it when i cook and i have to scale down how much i use in recent times anyways so we should be all set for most of this winter and early spring. once we get back to warmer weather where i can get back outside if we need anything remotely like garlic for cooking i have some i really need to dig up so this would be a good incentive for me to get out there and get it removed.