Vegetable Garden

Who's got one ? what are you growing ? and how's it coming along? Mine consists of sweet corn , cabbage , brussel sprouts, cauliflower, broccoli ,cucumbers, zucchini, peas, tomatoes , peppers , acorn squash, pumpkins, and assorted spices. The cold wet weather hasn't been very conducive to good growth so far for me. But with warmer weather in the forecast things should turn out. I hope those of you growing fair better.

I have an entire row of onions that died off quickly last year.  So quick I totally forgota bout them!  This year they grew back and all are going to see.  Those will be the first onions I use this season, and I"ll collect the seeds to start some new seedlings next year.

My onions are looking really good this year, even the short length ones I bought before I knew the difference.  I highly doubt I'll beat BMR for size, but I'm sure going to try!

Finally done planting my gardens! 37 pepper plants, 16 tomato plants, two rows of beans, 1 row of lettuce, 4 egg plants, 2 zuchinni rows, 2 cucumber rows, some carrots, 3 rows of onions, and some cilantro. Will post pictures soon! Two new garden areas this year.  Looking forward to a good year!

If you leave the onions in over winter, they won’t really get any bigger next year. They may a little bit, but they are going to go to seed and they’ll be a lot spicier tasting.

You also need correct soil and pH level. I use a few secret ingredients to kind of make it like a Sandy Lom like they have in Texas. Onions, love that for sucking up nutrients. It is very hard to grow them like I do on a flat surface, if you’re having troubles, I suggest making a 4 to 6 inch hill and put your onions  in this hill. Half of the onions will be exposed at all times. That is the bulb you can place your fertilizer inside that hill. The roots will stretch to get it. A lot of my knowledge comes from we did onion sets  And sold them all over the country, hundreds  and thousands of onion sets but those are no good for really making big bulb onions. You need a first year plant. And if you really want the biggest ones start from seed, make sure you give them all the fertilizer they need early.  Where you buy your onions, I would not buy them from Jungs that is for sure. You want to start out with a very nice plant before it was put into hibernation that had all the nutrients that it needs and is very strong. 

Yeah, well in this area, I would definitely grow long day onions. When you place them in the ground, make sure they are only as deep as the first knuckle on your index finger. Very tough to grow onions in Wisconsin so you have to start them early, late March early April. They need lots of sunlight. Lots and lots of fertilizer. They are heavy eaters. Nitrogen is most important but you do need potassium and phosphate so that root growth will be able to suck up all the nitrogen. When they start bulb do not fertilize anymore. The key is to get as many blades as you can with a thin neck.  Normally first couple days into June. The bulb process will start for long day onions in Wisconsin. We do not have a long period of time to get the nutrients they need to make big bulbs. They are heavy feeders and they need lots of water. Around 2 inches per week  of water. If you buy onion plants, make sure they are in the ground within three weeks after you purchase them if that is from a reputable onion farmer if you get them from Steins farm and Fleet Menards Lowe’s Home Depot they have no idea how old those plants are.  When you first place them in the ground, do not disturb them for about a month. You can fertilize after a couple weeks but don’t dig any or pull up weeds around them yet. They need plenty of sun as well. When they start to bulb, make sure you get all the dirt away from the bulb so that onion can expand.  What happens later on mid June through late June all the energy that is in the blades will be transferred into making that bulb. I suggest that maybe you subscribe to Dixon dale Farms onion news. He almost knows as much about onions as I do. PM me with any questions  Article that I just wrote later and make any corrections. Hope it helps. 

BMR
How do you get large onions? For 2 years now I've been growing onions and I end up being the size of radishes at the end of the season. Is there a special type onion to buy that will get bigger? Can I leave them small onions in over the winter will they start growing back in the spring? I usually start my onions indoors around March and the variety is called candy onions. If you can help me out I'd really appreciate it

  Thanks!

Carpio those are male flowers on your cukes.  You'll get a lot of male flowers before female flowers usually start producing.  They're meant to start attracting the bees though.  Once the female flowers form you'll notice little cucumbers on the ends before the flower, but there will also be a flower on it. You can hand pollinate those if you don't see any bees around.

My Cherokee doing great as is my green pepper plant with 2 walnut size peppers on it.   My cukes not so good, I get flowers but then they drop off.

Stopped by the local plant place today to see what they still had. Picked up a Cherokee Purple tomato plant the may grow to 9 ft tall, should go good next to my Amish Paste which may get that big. Also got a Poblano Ancho pepper plant, I like to try a few new things every year.

You don’t want this boys and girls. This is gonna be a massive onion, but it will be have to be eaten right away. It will not last. The neck is way too large. But will monitor this one. This should be bigger than a softball for sure.

Should I stay or should I go? Should I stay or should I go?

I only had a few that I started from seed that made it this year. They're much smaller but I'm sure they'll start to catch up.

Texas 1015Y Supersweets are starting to bulb. Can't believe how many blades are on this one! Do I continue to fertilize now that they've started bulbing or do I stop?

What about onions? What about beans? Why do we even have bees?