Last year I harvested the onions a bit too late. Some of them were mushy when they came out of the ground. I have taken the rule that when half of the stalks have bent down, it is time to harvest. I've heard that summer solstice is a second marker where we live. We are less than a week away from the solsitce and half the stalks were pretty much down. It has rained a lot the past few afternoons and evenings, so today, while it was hot and sunny, I harvest. I might be a bit early, but if I had to choose, I would rather have more small onions that onions that were too mushy to use.
My goal this year was to get some big onions. I don't know that I succeeded any better than in previous years. I fertilized and watered better, but I don't think I did any better. I had a lot of onions though. The yellow onions were a bit larger than the red onions. There were more red that went to seed.
My strategy for processing onions is to lay them out on wire grids for a day or so to let the roots dry. I will go back on Saturday (today is Thursday) and twist the stalks on each onion. When the stalks have dried, I will cut the dried leaves off and size them. My plan is to weigh them. My guess is that I will, by weight, have more yellow than red. My hope is to have enough for the next year for Kathy and me. Jenna doesn't eat onions. Jeff has left for the summer but he will eat them (he likes to cook with them) if and when he comes back.
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