My Garden Photos.

[remy]

Looks great Ted!
Remy

Originally Posted by remy

Looks great Ted!
Remy

Thanks Remy!

I'm always amazed at what you accomplish in what I believe is an urban setting.

Ted

[whistech]

Ted, I have a question about your onions. Did you plant onion seeds or onion sets? What variety are you growing?

The larger onions are sets I put out last fall. I have no idea which variety they are since the vendor gets mosts of his sets for garlic and onions from a distributor who receives them from China. I also planted some Georgia sweet onion seedlings last fall which are now pretty large as well. My main onion crop which produces large sweet bulbs is the Texas 1015 variety which were planted as seedlings in January of this year and the large bulbs will be harvested in late May or Early June. It depends on when the tops turn brown and fall over.

Ted

[OtterJon]

looking great ted! love the lettuce..

Thanks Jon!

We had some for dinner this evening. It is very good. I prefer the loose leaf lettuce over head lettuce.

Ted

[whistech]

Ted, thanks for the information on your onions.

Originally Posted by whistech

Ted, thanks for the information on your onions.

Your welcome! The Texas 1015 has proven to be my best onion over the years. It seems to come in both the yellow and white varieties. I can't tell any difference in the results of either. The number in the name indicates the date (October 15) seed should be planted each year if you grow from seed. The variety produces a large bulbed, sweet onion which stores well. I usually harvest in late May or early June each year and we are still using the onions near the end of the year. Many of the popular branded varieties like Maui onions, Georgia Sweet, Texas Sweet, Georgia Vidalia, Texas Noonday, Washington Walla Walla and others are said to be the same 1015 seed. They supposedly develop their unique characteristics from the soil and climate in which they are grown. The Walla Walla may be a different variety. It supposedly sometimes grows much larger than the others.

My favorite onion is the Texas Noonday onion grown around Noonday, Texas near Tyler. In the early summer, it is sold alongside roads and highways in east Texas in large bundles with the tops and roots intact. You simply wash them a little, clip the roots off and eat them. Each onion is about 1" in diameter and the tops are about 24" tall. As the summer progresses. The Noonday onions left in the field continue growing larger and are sold as sweet onion bulbs in the typical onion sacks. I've been told a few million lbs of "Noonday" sweet onions are sold each year while only 1/2 million lbs are grown. They seem to import a lot of Florida onions and south Texas onions to meet the demand.

See the attached link for the history of the 1015.

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/a.../onionhis.html

Ted

[whistech]

Thank you Ted. I am growing some of the 1015 onions that I got as sets from Dixondale Farms in early February. I also got one bunch of red burgandy and one bunch red creole. It is my first year growing a garden and I'm really exicited about how everything seems to be growing right now. My onions have not started "bulbing" yet and it may because I planted them later than what was recommended. I really enjoyed reading about the history of the 1015 onion.

Mine are not bulbing much yet either. They are growing tops and roots right now. When they start bulbing, most of the bulbs will be above ground with only the roots below ground. I grew the Red Burgandy last year and they were good onions, but a little hotter than the 1015's. I haven't tried the creole onions. Let me know which you prefer after you harvest and try them. Since you haven't grown them before, are you aware they should be planted very, very shallow? For many years, I had trouble developing good bulbs because I was planting them too deep in clay soil.

Here is a photo from last year of how they should look when they start developing bulbs.



Ted

[efisakov]

Tod, they look great, delicious.

[whistech]

Ted, thank you for the pictures and the onion information. I sure I did plant them too deep so I will probably on get small or no bulbs.

If I can pester you some more, I'd like to ask a couple of questions on your 25 gallon buckets.

1. I believe you said you drill hole about 3 inches up from the bottom so the bucket will have a water reservoir? If this is the case, will the plants do OK with the roots setting in the water?

2. If you were growing pepper plants in the bucket, how many plants would you have in the bucket?

I know I'm probably becoming a pest, but I really enjoy your posts and your gardening expertise.

Thank You Ted!

[Worth1]

Ted other than saying your place looks nice I am going to put up 2 links for all in the grand old south to read.
These links are on onion growing from Texas A&M.
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j...45175338,d.b2I
http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/a...ns/onions.html

Worth

Worth,

Thanks!

Whistech,

I debated drilling my holes two or three inches up from the bottom. I settled on two. I wanted the plant roots to have sufficient room to grow in moist soil without sitting in wet soil. The soil will wick the water up from the bottom as needed between waterings, but the roots won't sit in wet soil.

I'm growing five pepper varieties in the containers. Two plants of each variety per container plus herbs, cucumbers, strawberries, with tomatoes, eggplant and flowers in other pots. I purposely do not have the appearance of order in my garden or containers. I like irregular heights and shapes and colors in the containers.

I thank you for your comments, but there are many; more experienced gardeners on this forum than me. That's the reason it is a good forum. Everyone has some information they are willing to share. Always feel free to ask questions as I often do.

I just learned something new by reading the links Worth posted. I knew onions are two year seed to seed plants. I was trying to figure out why some of my onions are blooming. It's because our temperatures have been cycling radically. It's almost 90 degrees today and will be in the mid thirties on Thursday. When an onion plant sends up a flower stalk, you should consume it because the bulb will not get larger.

Ted

[Worth1]

Ted you are more than welcome.
I knew what your onions were doing when I read when you planted them.
Instead of writing some babbling post I put the links up for you and others to read.
Right now all of my onion sets are smaller than yours but they should keep putting on growth throughout the summer.(I Hope)

I have planted all short day onions like 10-15-Y.
I even remember the news announcement when they came out.
You cant beat a 10-15-Y grown in the right soil.
You can eat them like an apple.
Once again your place looks really nice.
I like the idea of utilizing space for garden rather than lawn grass.

Well done.

Worth