It’s been about 3 weeks since I started the onions and shallots. All my blog fans must be refreshing my site hourly just dying for an update on how the seedlings are doing, so it’s a great time for an update.
Transylvanian Red Onions: 2/4 → 2/25
The reds are picking up steam. It looks like roughly 25 seeds germinated and are well on their way to healthy growth. Having never grown an onion before in my life, it’s been enjoyable watching how they shoot up. They start off folded over themselves, and as they grow up then one side eventually clears the ground and pops off, slowly unfurling themselves into a straight line. As you see on the right, many of them are still bent but will straighten over time.
Golden Princess Onions: 2/4 → 2/25
The yellows are hot on their own path. Similar to the Transylvanian Reds, roughly ~25 Golden Princess seedlings have emerged. If these all survive and thrive, there will be about 50 onions to harvest in total between the two varieties. Granted, harvesting 50 good looking onions is a long away down this journey, fraught with peril at every phase, but that’s obviously the hope! Onto the shallots.
Zebrune Shallots: 2/4 → 2/25
The younger upstart Zebrune shallots are asserting their dominance with some of the highest seedlings to boot. Here we have almost 15 seedlings. Unlike onions, shallots grow in clusters similar to garlic, so I’m very curious how many shallots will actual produce within a single cluster. Hopefully that number will be higher than 15. Maybe it will be billions.
Now that I’ve got a rough idea as to how many seedlings are on their way to becoming transplants (assuming I keep them alive), the picture is coming into focus as to how much real estate Team Allium will need in the garden. Medium/large onions and shallots both have about the same spacing requirements since, as mentioned above, shallots grow in clusters. The spacing I’m going for is 6 inches in rows 1 foot apart.
Some simple math:
25 red onions + 25 yellow onions + 15 shallots = 65 crops
65 crops X 6 inches apart = 32.5 feet of growing space
Since the main ‘suburb’ raised beds in 63P are traditional 8×4 foot beds (32 feet), I’ll need slighly more space than a single bed. I’m still mulling over the details, but I may end up splitting the group up and interplanting in 2 beds with some companion crops (to be determined). We’ll see how that idea evolves as the season progresses and we get closer to transplant season. Carrots are a possibility as I’ve read onions can deter carrot pests. The internet never lies.
Oh, what’s this? Is this the mysterious 2V crop cliff-hanger from the last seedling update?
Guys, I’m choking at this. No, not at gardening. No, not at blogging. I’m ARTIchoking! What we see here is the first sign of a lil choke not choking. Well, the choke is choking if you consider it the same thing as us ‘humaning’, but the choke is not choking. Or maybe the choke IS choking and it should be sprouting better. Or maybe the choke is NOT choking and it’s thriving so far instead. I mean… you can draw your own conclusions.
Whatever the case may be, I planted 4 Golden Globe artichoke seeds, of which I’m hoping to successfully grow and transplant two of them here in the backyard at the house. I’ve hereby crossed thy strict boundary of talking only Plot 63P and taken a detour into backyard plans.
The artichoke seeds vary widely in their husk color, so I opted to do a mini experiment to plant 2 of each extreme to see if they performed any better or worse in their growth. I planted these on February 6th and the first sprout above came into view 9 days later on February 15th. I used the same heating mat situation as I did for the onion and shallot seeds to germinate.
Turns out we’ve got 4 little blokes on their way to being yolked chokes! The colored seed experiment didn’t produce any conclusive evidence. I guess that kills my chance at being a lead scientific expert of Golden Globing. Currently, the plan is to plant two of these perennial seedlings in the backyard. In their first year (this year) they’ll be left alone to just do their thang and get situated. They produce some really cool looking flowers that attract all sorts of pollinators, so even in the first year that’s a net benefit to the yard in my opinion. Not everything is about strict caloric value maaaan. So no crop yields planned for 2024, but I’m expecting big things down the road.
Since artichokes take up a lot of space, I don’t think there will be room for all four of them in the yard, so it’s survival of the fittest as they compete to either live and thrive for many years with tender nurturing love and care, or die a horrid death under the wrath of the rubber boot as life is stomped out of them and they become yet another statistic in the compost heap. Ok that was morbid. More like they will be euthanized humanely and sweet things will be whispered in their chlorophyllic ears as they slowly whither away silently in their sleep.
Hero of the Week:
The turkey baster turned perky baster has been a great way to water the seedlings and perk them up without over-saturating the seed starting mix. I found it somewhat difficult to pour water delicately and evenly over the seedlings, even before my morning coffee with the steadiest of hands. Glogs of water would spill out as I cursed my anti-zen-like pouring abilities. This tool is earning it’s keep at the seedling station by providing more accuracy and precision in the watering of things.
We’ve had a ton of action happening in plot 63P this weekend. BIG changes. HUGE updates. Let’s just say it involves whales, rat hair, old grape vines and four new human characters introduced into the world of 63P. Until next time.
🍊 AA
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