For people who want to grow more food with less work. 🌱 This is my weekly newsletter loved by 38,000+ subscribers—here's what one of them had to say: "These are not the regular run-of-the-mill garden-based emails. You actually touch on more unusual tidbits that encourage me to keep growing and learning."
3 signs your onions are ready
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Onions take SO long to grow, especially if you start them from seed. It takes around 100 to 120 days for onions to mature from seed, 80 to 100 days to mature from sets, and somewhere in between if you transplanted a plug of seedlings. Which means... the day you've been waiting for is near! But just because you can see the tops of your onions start to push out of the ground, it doesn't mean they're actually mature. While you can pick onions at any stage of growth (even super young, if you want green onions), they won't store well in the pantry unless they're fully mature. And reaching that stage takes a considerable amount of time since you have to wait for all the energy from the leaves to finish transferring to the bulb (but NOT to the point that all the leaves are brown). ​Here are 3 things to look for to know when your onion crop is ready for harvest.​ (If you hold out until your onions are mature, they can store for several months! So it's definitely worth the wait.) Seasonal tipsSeed deals to watchDid you know onion seeds are only good for a year? So if you didn't use up your seed packet this past spring, chances are, you'll need to buy a fresh packet for next year. I also just discovered they have a clearance section where they move out low-germination seeds in bulk. ​These organic Lollo Rosso lettuce seeds are an insane deal: only $20 for 1 pound! (That's a LOT of seed.) If you—like me—sow lettuce by broadcasting it over your bed, you can't really beat the price here. These Lollo Rosso seeds have 71% germination, which is decent, and if you've got a pound to work with, you might as well sow more heavily. Lettuce makes an excellent living mulch, and it's what I have growing in between my tomato plants right now. They don't mind growing close together and you can toss out handfuls of lettuce seed by late summer for a fall harvest of baby greens. So if you want to scoop up some seeds at a giant discount, it's worth a look!​ P.S. Are your onions ready to harvest? Here's how to tell when they're fully mature and ripe for picking.​ |
Garden Betty
For people who want to grow more food with less work. 🌱 This is my weekly newsletter loved by 38,000+ subscribers—here's what one of them had to say: "These are not the regular run-of-the-mill garden-based emails. You actually touch on more unusual tidbits that encourage me to keep growing and learning."