Planting Time

I took advantage of a couple of warm and dry days this week to work up some soil and do a little planting. My first task was to plant some multiplier onions. I’ve been growing I’itoi onions for a couple of years now with good results. I grow them in the ground and in containers, and they keep us supplied with green onions/scallions nearly year round.

This spring I ordered some White Multiplier Onions from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange to add to the mix. According to their description these “thumb-sized white-skinned bulbs produce 6-14 green onion sprouts”. They arrived last week ready to go, so I have been anxious to get them in the ground. Judging by the looks of them, they ought to take off fairly quickly once planted.

I used my fork and worked up a spot for both these perennial onions, then added some Happy Frog organic fertilizer and mixed it in the bed. I had several containers of I’itoi growing all winter in the greenhouse, and some of them had gone dormant and were ready for replanting. These form clumps of little bulbs and I didn’t split them before planting, so they should make nice sized bunches of onions by summer when they tend to go dormant here. I planted another perennial onion called Yellow Potato Onion last fall, and they have greened up and are growing nicely now in another bed.

While I had the fork out, I worked up another spot in one of the cold frame beds for kale. It truly felt great to be out working the soil, and I think I am ready to get more planting done. We’ve had so much rain lately (5 inches in March) that the main garden is still soggy, but it should start drying soon with warm windy days in the forecast.

Inside the greenhouse I have planted lettuce and arugula in containers. I’m still harvesting lettuce from the winter planting, and I have more plants ready to go in as space becomes available.  I planted red leaf lettuce in one of my Mini Salad Boxes, which work quite well for the shallow rooted lettuce.

I need to get out my soil probe and take some samples in the main garden. Last year the pH had risen to 6.7, which is getting a bit higher than I like. I added some elemental sulfur to the soil and a soil test will tell me whether I need to add more this year. I would rather have the pH closer to 6.5, though each vegetable has their own preference and many would be quite happy with the 6.7 reading. Then it will be time to get the cabbage, broccoli and kohlrabi planted. Those plants are pretty much ready to go.

I’ll be back soon with more happenings from Happy Acres – if I’m not out working in the garden, that is!