Onion Sets

It wasn't as warm today as I had hoped, but it was at least warmer than it has been and it was warm enough for me to feel good getting outside.

Today was a good day to plant onion sets. Last week I turned the soil, added some 10-10-10 and then let the bed sit. It snowed again during the week. It melted in most places, but stayed a bit longer in Oak Ridge. I think it is because our elevation here is a bit higher than Greensboro. But, by Thursday, the snow was all gone in the areas that had sunlight. (It is still on the ground in the shaded area by the beehive.)

My strategy this year was to plant the yellow onions on the north side of the bed and the red onions on the south. The east end of the bed was totally free, but there were still a few onions I had started from seed on the west end, so I just planted around them.

I have kept to the 9 per square foot pattern. I went through my gardening books to see if I needed to adjust the pH level, but only two books mentioned it (the original Square Foot Gardening book and Dick Raymond's Joy of Gardening). I know from past measures that my soil is a little acidic (between 6 and 6.5) and it seemed that this range was fine for onions, so I just left the soil alone.

The one piece of advice I picked up was the need to side dress the onions periodically through the growing season. I've had smallish onions in the past. I plan to try this out this year.