Growing Great Onions

Whether you grow onions from sets, plants or seed, you’ll get the best harvest if you do these things. First, select a site that that will receive at least six hours of direct sun each day. Next, prepare your bed by working in some organic material, such as Earth Essentials Sheep, Peat and Compost. 

One bag of locally-produced Sheep, Peat and Compost will cover ten square feet two inches deep. Spread two to three inches of Sheep and Peat over the bed, then dig in thoroughly, to a depth of six to eight inches. While you’re at it, incorporate a slow release form of nitrogen and phosphate into the bed. Now you’re ready to plant your onions. 

Onion sets should be planted one inch deep and four to five inches apart.

 Onion plants should be planted two to three inches apart and just deep enough to hold them upright. As onion plants grow, harvest every other one to use as green scallions. Once planted, onions need a consistent supply of water in order to form correctly, so water your onions often enough to keep them moist. 

Applying a good mulch such as Soil Pep will help hold the moisture in and the ground temperature stable.  

About a month after planting, feed your onions again with organic 4-4-4 fertilizer. Repeat this feeding after the onions have been in the ground for eight weeks. Onions will continue to grow until around the middle of summer, when you’ll start to see changes; the tops begin to fade and fall over. This is a clue your onions are getting ripe.  Once eighty percent of the crop’s tops have faded and fallen over, pull your onions and leave them in the sun for two to three days to dry, before storing them in a cool, dry area.   Onions generally don’t have a lot of problems. Occasionally you’ll see some damage from insects such as thrips. If the leaves on your onions look distorted or growth suddenly stops, suspect thrips and dust the area with Sulfur. The key to growing onions is to start them early, in well-amended soil, pay attention to how much water they’re getting and keep the onion patch free of weeds and insects.   

March Garden Chores

Eager to get out in the garden? We’re approaching the Vernal Equinox, which means the days will be getting longer, giving us the perfect opportunity to get your garden ready for the season ahead. 

Start by cleaning up your vegetable and perennial beds. This includes removing any dead vegetation and debris. Insects and disease can winter over and you'll help reduce potential problems later on by doing a good clean up now. Now’s the time to evaluate the soil in your vegetable beds. Soil texture and richness are fundamental to your garden’s success and testing is something that should be done on a regular basis. Whether you’ve experienced specific problems, such as Tomato Blossom End Rot or you’ve been disappointed in your garden’s overall yields, it’s important to establish a baseline, in order to know how to proceed to improve your soil. 

You can do this yourself with a simple test kit or you can send a soil sample to the labs at Colorado State University. You’ll get a very comprehensive soil analysis from the labs at CSU. Once you’ve received your test results, bring the report in. We’ll help you choose the products you need in order to implement the changes they recommend. Foundational to soil quality and heath is the practice of adding organic materials, called amendments. Common soil amendments include compost, peat moss and earthworm castings, but before you try digging in your garden make sure the ground is workable. 

A simple way to do this is to grab a handful of soil and squeeze it. If it crumbles when you open your hand the soil is workable. If it stays in a clump, the soil is too wet and you need to wait. 

In your perennial gardens, now is the time to prune back ornamental grasses. They do best if you cut them back to five or six inches above the ground. Other summer flowering shrubs such as Buddleia and Caryopteris should also be pruned now. Wait to prune spring blooming shrubs such as Lilac, Forsythia, Spirea until after they bloom. Hold off pruning your roses until mid-April. 

Watch for perennial weeds that may have wintered over. Groundsel, Mallow and others can survive the harshest winter weather and many are blooming right now. Dig them up or treat with Burnout weed control. Starting your garden clean up now, will mean fewer chores during planting season.  

Now’s the time to stop Crabgrass

Lawn weeds can be classified into three categories: Broadleaf Summer Annuals, Broadleaf Perennials and Grassy Summer Annuals. Broadleaf Summer Annuals include spurge and purslane. Broadleaf Perennials include Dock, Plantain and Common Mallow. 

Grassy Summer Annuals include Crabgrass, Orchard Grass and Quack grass. Of these three weed categories, Crabgrass and other Grassy Summer annuals are best controlled now, before they show up in your lawn later in the season. This can be accomplished because crabgrass is an annual. It completes its life cycle in one season. Crabgrass seed germinates in early spring, when the soil temperature has reached fifty to fifty-five degrees Fahrenheit. 

Once germinated, crabgrass matures quickly and will seed-out throughout the summer season until the first hard frost kills it. These seeds lay dormant in your lawn until the following season, when the soil is warm enough to sprout new crabgrass plants and perpetuate the cycle.  The time to control crabgrass is now, by using lawn products that contain a pre-emergent. Pre-emergents work by allowing the crabgrass seed to germinate, then killing the young plant before it has a chance to get established.

 Pre-emergents are available in  Fertilome's For All Seasons II. This product feeds your lawn and acts against any seed that may have wintered over in your grass. 

Organic-based pre-emergents are also available, in the form of corn gluten. Corn gluten products are very effective pre-emergents, controlling seeds before they have time to root. Corn gluten also supplies Nitrogen to feed your lawn. In order to work well, pre-emergents must be applied before the soil gets warm enough for seeds to start sprouting. Normally, that’s between mid-March and mid-April. It’s important to note that pre-emergents act to control any seed that may be present in your lawn. Don’t use a pre-emergent if you’re planning to over-seed your lawn this spring. 

It’s also important to note that coarse fescue and other perennial broad leaf grasses are often mistakenly identified as crabgrass. Pre-emergents will not work on perennial grasses. If you’re uncertain, bring us a sample. We’ll help you determine the best solution.