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Post by garrett on Jul 19, 2012 13:17:06 GMT -5
what do ya'lls do to prep the beds?
how?when?
what ya'll like to plant?
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Post by elkwc3656 on Jul 19, 2012 18:15:20 GMT -5
It all matters when I prepare and prep the garlic bed on what I use. If it is after the tree leaves fall I shred and mix them in. This year they will go in where the sweet corn is finishing up now. I will remove the stalks and then till it and then furrow the area as deep as I can. I will add manure compost 3-5 inches deep and then put a few inches of soil on top. And mix/rake corn gluten meal into the top 2-3 inches. Then water well and let set till early October and plant. Which will be early for me. I have been planting in mid to late November with good results. But going to move it up some to see if a few varieties that have been a little smaller might size up better.
I have grown as many as 22 varieties in a year. This last year I grew 9 known varieties and some mixed unknown cloves I didn't label when I dug them in 011. This year I will grow my two must grows. Estonian Red and an Elephant garlic selection I received from CO along with Metechi, Khabar, Ayacucho, Colorado Purple, the largest of the cloves from the unknown bulbs, German Hardneck, Music, Penasco Blue, Bogatyr and 4-5 from the folowing Elmers Topset, Zemo, K's Backyard, Brown Saxon, Keeper, Pskem, Rosewood, Santa Fe Rocambole, Nesenkeag and Korean Mountain. Jay
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Post by blujen on Jul 20, 2012 8:38:13 GMT -5
This year was my first year growing leeks at all, and growing onions from seed. I planted the seeds of both in early february in a flat in the house, and then sometime late march early april I planted them out. No special prep for the beds, just turned the dirt under, didn't add any fresh compost because i wasn't sure they needed it. I actually messed up and got convused about onions vs leeks (they weren't labeled) so I planted 90 leeks nice and shallow, and 30 onions nice and deep.... OOPS. I still got some delicious onions and the leeks are CRAZZY happy right now. Harvested the onions about a month ago, the leeks i'm going to leave in the ground and just use them right from there.
It probably wasn't the RIGHT way to treat them, but they sure look happy!
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Post by garrett on Jul 20, 2012 9:20:52 GMT -5
so manure is a key for good garlic eh?
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Post by zinniagirl on Jul 20, 2012 9:32:06 GMT -5
For leeks, I learned a new trick this year. I rake the soil from the paths up, just like I do for garlic. About 6-8 inches--I don't use any boards or anything to keep the ground up, just rake it. It is very loose, so I poke a small pipe, about 1" in diameter, about 6 inches deep. I just drop in the leek transplants (bought from Dixondale). I don't push any ground in. As it rains or gets watered, the holes fill in on their own. I haven't harvested any yet--too soon, but they seem to be growing well.
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Post by garrett on Jul 20, 2012 9:34:46 GMT -5
thanks z.good idear.
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Post by blujen on Jul 20, 2012 10:53:26 GMT -5
Garlic definitely loves manure - I have huge size increases when I plant in a really well manured bed. Don't expect that THIS year where i'm planting, but next year I should get some really awesome garlic!
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Post by garrett on Jul 22, 2012 1:53:49 GMT -5
ok no manure fer trees while i prep redneck beds.lol
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Post by desertrat on Jul 30, 2012 15:17:40 GMT -5
No special prep for onions and leeks, just some compost, a little manure and a sprinkling of sulfur, bone meal and greensand. I get transplants from Dixondale and plant onions in Nov. and leeks in Jan. as that's when they're available. The Red Creoles did the best this year, pulled all of them in May and still keeping well which is a bit longer than I expected. This year I'm starting them from seed in pots for transplant in Nov. Last year I didn't pull them til June and they were still nice, especially the leeks.
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Post by desertrat on Aug 27, 2012 12:25:26 GMT -5
For leeks, I learned a new trick this year. I rake the soil from the paths up, just like I do for garlic. About 6-8 inches--I don't use any boards or anything to keep the ground up, just rake it. It is very loose, so I poke a small pipe, about 1" in diameter, about 6 inches deep. I just drop in the leek transplants (bought from Dixondale). I don't push any ground in. As it rains or gets watered, the holes fill in on their own. I haven't harvested any yet--too soon, but they seem to be growing well. That sounds like a neat trick, I'll try that out! thanks. |
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Post by txdirtdawg on Dec 3, 2012 18:22:06 GMT -5
I planted something over 120 onion starts from Dixondale today.
I applied some bags of organic humus/composted manure and worked in with a shovel. Then followed Dixondale's recommendation of leveling bed higher than surrounding soil about 4 inches. Then moved in 2 inches from the edge and did a 1 inch X 1 inch trench for starts then moved over 6 inches and did a 4 inch X 4 inch trench for fert and then over another 6 inches and did a 1X1 trench for another row of starts. That's where the 120 starts of TX Supersweet and TX Legend went. Still have about the same amount of smaller starts in each bundle.
The other partial row I did not get planted today with the Granex and Intermediate day sampler. I worked in the humus/manure and set up 2 rows like above but side by side in a wide row (There'll be 4 actual rows of onions within the wide row). That might save me some space, or it may make small onions in the 2 rows in the middle. Guess we'll see. I'll go back in the next day or 3 and add a fert with a little higher middle number to help root development and then fert with a higher N number every 2-3 weeks per Dixondale's recommended method. It may not be organic, but if I get big sweet onions, I'll be a happy camper.
Oh, I also used the 2 inch spacing so I don't have to mess with starting green onions (I usually have pretty dismal germination anyway. This way, I'll pull every other onion for green onions during the growing season which will give space for the bulbs to grow for the remaining onions.
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Post by marielouise on Dec 9, 2012 22:54:57 GMT -5
We planted some onion seed last year and they came up but did not do very well. I think it was the wrong time to palnt them or maybe just our crazy weather last spring . Jim has already planted out some starts for next spring onions --- don't recall off hand what he types planted . I have multiplyers for green onions and the walking Egypian that have the top sets --- the others just multiply at the roots --- they are doing great. Have already been using them since right before Thanksgiving . He fertilizers with a fish emulision he makes from fish cleaning left overs from when we catch any! HAAAA
TDD yours sound like they should do well.
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Post by marielouise on Dec 9, 2012 22:59:06 GMT -5
Oh and garlic--- the elephant garlic starts from my brother and some from what we grew last year.. a raised bed of each thye are up and growing .... I no longer grow shallots ---they grew real well but we didn't see much difference in taste and they are little tiny things for chopping and cooking so more trouble than we wanted to fool with.
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Post by txdirtdawg on Dec 10, 2012 9:44:00 GMT -5
Thanks ML, I hope they do well.
On the Egyptian Walking onions. Someone on one of the boards (may have been here at the acres, can't remember and don't have time to look it up right now) told me that they don't taste very good during the heat of the summer. What has been your experience?
I had thought about putting in a bed of them, but decided against it for the above reason. Maybe I ought to re-think that.
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Post by LinFL on Dec 10, 2012 12:37:15 GMT -5
Hmm...that would be good to know. "The heat of summer" is half the year here, and I have been considering putting in a bed of them myself.
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Post by LinFL on Dec 30, 2012 17:31:04 GMT -5
My onions that I planted on the 16th are doing well so far. I copied TDD: same source for the plants, same planting methods, and like him I will soon have a LOT of green onions to use. :-D
I planted some garlic from Sam's on the 16th as well. Nearly all of it is peeking above the ground.
Time will tell whether I get good-sized onions and garlic. It should be tasty even if I don't get prize-sizes, though.
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Post by marielouise on Dec 31, 2012 1:35:49 GMT -5
TDD, In the heat of summer my experience has been that the older walking onions have a much stronger taste---so those I cook with but don't use them for green onions, too the tops get tougher with age . Now the younger ones have a milder more green onion flavor but come August and Sept. when it gets really hot , I don't use them for green onions .They do get stronger in the heat, but come fall and the rains they are milder. I figure its due to heat and the dryness of Aug and Sept. So it all depends on your own taste preferences .
My brother brought me some of his multiplyers, last summer from Az., , they only multiply from the root portion , no top sets , and he says they stay green onion flavor and don't get that strong harsher flavor with the heat. The deeper they are planted the more of the white portion there is .. I didn't eat any of his onions, was waiting to get a good stand first cause we do use a lot of onions here--lol. Jim did dig some right around Thanksgiving and they taste almost like those you buy in the stores , but fresher and better --IMHO... But these I will know more this summer how they do here, he says the tops retain that milder """good""" green onion flavor ! He has both the walking and the multiplyers out there in Az.
The snow we had Christmas did a number on their tops --- kind of wilted them real good---LOL but I know they will recuperate in a few days ora week.
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Post by txdirtdawg on Dec 31, 2012 13:41:34 GMT -5
Thanks for the report on the walking onions ML. Good luck with the multipliers.
Maybe that's the way to go. A bed of walkers and a bed of multipliers.
Hmmmmm.....
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Post by marielouise on Jan 6, 2013 0:48:37 GMT -5
yep for us it is the way to go..... I have had these walking ones for better than 10 years . But now different zones they do different .
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