Joy Beeson wrote:
....
> When winter onions are bred for sale, they are called Egyptian onions,
> topping onions, or walking onions. I have a clone of the old
> semi-feral winter onions that grew without cultivation, but fertilize
> and weed them and confine them to a row in the garden. Our house was
> built on fill, so I haven't been able to start a usable colony of
> wild-growing onions.

i'm not sure what to call a winter onion here
because to me any onion can usually grow and be
harvested at several different times depending upon
what you want (the green tops or the stalk or the
bulb). some onions do not get bulbs and are
stronger or milder at various times.

i really like using green garlic in the late
winter through until they start getting too
woody covers on the cloves (the next few weeks
as the garlic here is just starting to put on
scapes).

garlic is the easiest thing i grow here.

i've never had very good luck starting the
bunching onions from seeds so this past summer
a friend sent me some bunching onions as plants
to put in and they are blooming now. i'm so
excited because the blooms are covered with
bees of all kinds and it is fun to watch them
and see what new bees i've not seen before.

the bunching onions have grown so well that
i'm going to have plenty to break them apart,
eat some and then replant the rest in a row
in the garden where they are at now. the
seeds i'm going to harvest as soon as they
start showing signs of being developed enough
and then i can give them away at a seed swap.

the recent craze is ramps. the greenhouse
even was selling ramps this year.

our normal eating onions that i grow are
large sweet kelcey onions and some red
onions, but i didn't plant any red onions
this year for a change. i like to leave
a few of these from each season to flower
so i can get seeds, but i'm lax this year
due to injury last year so no large onion
flowers this year.


songbird