Evening glow in the greenhouse

Evening glow in the greenhouse
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Monday, February 21, 2011

Starting Onions

Mixing seed and dry scattering medium


Scattering by hand

Prepared bed

Mulch and water
Today I finally got the Walla Walla seed in the ground.  The onions will ripen with the descending light of shorter days in late summer, and may keep better for it. First I work up the bed.  I picked a loose one I hadn't grow onions in last year.  Took out a few rocks and crumbled a few clods.  Then I mix the seed with a medium (some dusty stuff I found under the soil mixer) that does not look like the surrounding soil you are planting in inside a bowl, gallon or quart milk jug, whatever you can get your hand or cup in.  Be frugal with the amount of seeds per medium, you would like the onions plantlets to be about a green onion apart from one another ideally. Mix well, and begin scattering by shaking handfuls or cupfuls onto your prepared bed.  Then, I cover with a thin layer of mulch, in this case I used coconut fiber, then water.  You can see the black seeds as you are scattering and tell how far apart they are landing.  It becomes regulated by how proficient a scatterer you are.  Tricky, but after twenty some years of doing it this way, I am getting the hang of it!

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