Weekly Garden Thread - January 16-22, 2021

January 16, 2021 | Diana in Wisconsin/Greeneyes

[Redleg Duke]

Living just north of Boston, I can finally use my Crockett’s Victory Garden book!

[Augie]

One note: If you want to order from a catalog, do it SOON - they are all swamped and having a hard time filling orders, it seems.

Thanks for the reminder. Placed my Jung's order today.

Free shipping on orders over $100!

[Ellendra]

I don’t eat onions, but it sounds like those might be regular bulb onions, harvested at the “baby” stage?

For tomatoes, I’m inclined to stick with heirlooms, because you can save your own seeds and grow the same thing next year. With hybrids, technically you can save seeds, but what grows from those seeds will be unpredictable. It might be better, worse, equal-but-different, or exactly the same. Which can be fun, but it’s not everybody’s cup of tea.

For an all-around slicing tomato, Brandywine, Mortgage Lifter, and Climbing Triple-Crop would all work well. That last one tends to take over, so choose your spot carefully.

[greeneyes]

Diana, I’m not seeing a book for Mo. or the Midwest. We were in zone 5, until the reclass a few years back when they changed it to 6. After the change, the weather got colder so I’d say we are still a zone 5.

Which book do you think would be good for Missouri? TIA.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Great news! I’m always happy to hear of people expanding their gardens!

[Diana in Wisconsin]

I, too, am 'technically' NOW Zone 5a, but I still garden like I'm in Zone 4. That way, I'm never disappointed, especially when adding perennial plants or shrubs to our yard. ;)

Wanting to add a row of Hydrangea this season, as well as more roses. :)

These looked appropriate and are available on Amazon:

[Augie]

re: spring onions

I have a patch of what we call winter onions.

I transplanted a handful into my garden about ten years ago. They came out of a patch at my folks house.

That patch was started from a handful that came from a pre-1900 farmstead across the road from our farm. No telling where they came from before that.

They are my favorite garden plant because they require absolutely no care or attention. Stick a few in the dirt and they will be there forever as long as a few are allowed to go to seed every year. They make a bulb sort of thing on top that’s basically a ball of little tiny bulbs. When the top falls over the baby onions root where they land.

I’d be happy to share if you want a start of them.

[Hot Tabasco]

One of the names for those onions is Egyptian Onions. When I first moved into my house, there was an old Polish couple who lived next door to the house immediately behind me. Mrs. Pretta loved her flowers and would constantly dig up clumps of flowers like black eyed susans and give them to me to plant around my house.

The house behind me was vacant for a couple years so I would plant some of Mrs. Pretta's flowers along the back of it and Mrs. Pretta also gave me the Egyptian Onions to plant there. The house is occupied now and the girl who lives there has expanded the growing area and she still has the Egyptian onions which spread like crazy.

From what I just read, the only edible part of that onion is the stalks

[Augie]

I don’t know if these are egyptian onions or not, but every bit of them is good to eat.

Except for the hairy roots part. That probably wouldn’t be much good.

[Hot Tabasco]

Do they have large green onion bulbs on them?

[Augie]

The bulbs on these normally won’t get past an inch thick, with the stem being almost as thick as the bulb for several inches past where they come out of the soil.

They might get a little bigger if they weren’t crowded, but I’ve never tried to thin them out to see what would happen if they had more space to grow.

The seed heads get up to maybe 2.5” diameter.

They have quite a nice flavor. Very oniony, but seldom unpleasantly pungent when eaten raw.

[greeneyes]

Thanks. Any perennials or trees we are buying zone 4 if available for the same reason. And also buying shorter days to maturity. Supposedly the grand solar minimum brings the colder areas further south. Not buying anything for zone 6, unless we plan on bringing it into the house.

[MomwithHope]

That is nice looking. Don’t forget to take a before and after picture for us.

[MomwithHope]

We have the same onions Augie. Our patch is about 25 years old. Technically they are called Egyptian walking onions. Their roots are long and go deep. We are in west Michigan. I still plant a long row of green onions but the Egyptians are a nice treat. When they get older and bigger they are almost like young leeks. Try a few tossed in some oil, salt and pepper and grilled. I harvest the biggest seed bulbs on top and peel and use them like shallots.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

I’ll take a ‘Before’ after I vacuum tomorrow and roll up the rugs. I plan on taking a number of ‘during’ photos, too. Kind of as a WARNING to others to be careful what they wish for, LOL!

I made good progress today, but Dear Old Mom is coming to help me with the ‘Hero Cabinet’ (all of Beau’s hunting trophies and such) and the TWO floor to ceiling book cases, tomorrow.

*GAWD*

[Augie]

This is what mine look like. They're on the smallish side like scallions, but they will develop a bit of a bulb if they're not crowded. I expect that you're correct about them being a variety of egyptian walking onion.

[MomwithHope]

They look exactly like mine although some of mine I let get big. Someone else said something about the greens not being edible. Not true for mine, the very young ones have edible greens very like a green onion and they are tubular shaped. When the onions are more mature like yours the green have a flat shape. Can’t take a picture they are snow covered. I like to peel and use the seed bulbs, some get as big as a small grape. That helps keep the population down.