Winter Greens

[digitS']

Four, 1-gallon bags and it's 1 of the 2 lettuce bags that is open. The others are for stir-fry. Still, plenty of greens in the greenhouse, big bed.

The plants are the smallest harvested this winter. That's okay. They are from the skinny bed closest to the south wall. They were never covered, even on the coldest nights!

I wasn't gonna use that bed for anything. There were extra plants after filling the big, coverable bed. So, they got their chance. They must have froze any number of times!

Well, the tender/tuff little things had to go! This morning, the narrow benches went back over that bed and soil went into a flat or two. Onion seed will go in this afternoon .

Steve

 

[ducks4you]

Steve, I have never finished growing onion seeds. Any advice?

 

[digitS']

Advice ..

. Advice ..

. advice ...

Well, you gotta pay attention to weather.

Okay, they are about the earliest things that can go in the garden ... but, if you complain to those Texas onion companies that their plants bolted after being set out and before making bulbs, they'll say that you subjected the plants to too much cold. Take that under advisement, also.

I tried sowing seed in January one year, thinking that I could shear the plants if they had to wait too long to go into the open garden. I decided not to do that again.

The things are in that unheated greenhouse forever and nutrients are thoroughly washed out of the soil.
Onions are like lawn grass, they like N. I give them a high nitrogen dry fertilizer and may use composted chicken manure before they come out of that flat.

They aren't so tough to transplant. Take some time to separate them all out before sitting down on your stool. You can even trim the roots with a pair of scissors ... "Scratch" them into the soil.

Back to the seed - onion seed is supposed to have about the shortest shelf life of any of our garden seed. Last year's seed has always worked okay for me, however.

Steve

 

[Smart Red]

I've never had a problem starting onions and leeks from seed inside. No problem transplanting the seedlings out in the garden either. I use a popcicle stick to gently lift a section of seedlings, divide them, dig a shallow V in the row, set each seedling against on side of the V and cover from the other side. Easy peasy.

 

[digitS']

There is some frost damage but it's minor. They might decide to bolt before mid-March!

Steve

 

[thistlebloom]

Very nice. Makes me want to throw them in the wok with some thin sliced beef for a little stir fry! But I guess we're having pizza tonight.

 

[SprigOfTheLivingDead]

I had to restart all my plants in early Jan due to aphids, but the spinach has finally gotten to a yum yum state . Made for some good salads this past week.

 

[digitS']

 

[ninnymary]

Your produce always looks soooo good Steve. I'm jealous. No nibbles, holes, or anything. Or did you select the perfect ones for the picture?

Mary

 

[digitS']

No pests in there right now, Mary.

There must have been slugs in the greenhouse last fall. A few hard freezes and that put an end to their activities.

Lunch had to wait until 3:30 so I'm just enjoying the stir-fry now .

Steve