Onion Harvest
Last week, I pulled the onions. Seems like just yesterday that I planted them. Back on April 8, they looked like this:
Red Zeppelin Onions -April 8
They were just little squirts, no bigger than your pinkie finger.
By May 25, they had grown quite a bit:
Onions - May 25
And on June 16, they had almost reached maturity:
Onions - June 16
By last week, all the tops had fallen over indicating they were no longer growing, and were going dormant. Time to pull the onions!
Harvested Onions- July 14
These are the best onions we’ve ever grown. The varieties are Red Zeppelin,
Red Zeppellin Onions
and Yellow Copra.
Yellow Copra Onions
Both varieties are reputed to store well. This will be our onion supply for the coming year. Last year’s onions lasted through April of this year.
Here’s the winner for the biggest onion of the year:
Red Zeppelin Onion
A real beauty about 4 inches across. We’re so pleased with these varieties and will grow them again next year.
We left them outside in a shady spot on a dry surface for several days, and then cut the tops off about an inch above the bulb. Now they will be stored in a cardboard box in our basement where it’s cool.
I couldn’t resist using a few of them to do some cooking over the weekend. I made refrigerator pickles first. Stop by tomorrow to see how they turned out. Yum!
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Wow! Great onion crop! I can’t believe your onions from last year lasted thru April of this year. That is fantastic!
Hi Bonnie,
We really are pleased with those varieties. Weather has been good too.
Thanks for stopping by.
Very nice onions! I so wanted the red onions this year but mine didn’t do diddly. How great to have a crop that lasts you that long too.
Hi Gardener,
Thank you! Sorry yours didn’t do so well. Next year they’ll be better.
Suzanne
Very nice indeed!! Yumm!!!
It’s so nice to see such juicy home-grown onions. I’ve never seen a yellow onion, though. Does it also make you go “sniff, sniff” while cutting? 🙂
Hi Shailaja,
The yellow and red are not supposed to be so strong, but I cried anyway when I was cutting a red one the other day. A good cry wasted. 🙂
You are so much futher ahead than us. The wheat harvest here has still to happen. Maybe the second week in August. The onion harvest is September or October. Now in the garden I harvest all summer long.
Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com/
Hi Linda,
Sounds like your growing season is shorter than ours. Also hotter here- heat index of 108 today. Yuck.
What a wonderful onion crop. Ours, in Idaho, are about half mature. We had a very cold spring and early summer. Do you grow garlic? We have a ton of garlic, but it is slow maturing this year. When do you harvest yours? I dig it when tops are about half brown, then hang under cover in a warm place to wait for paper to form on outside of bulb. Does this agree with what you might do?
Hi Mary in Idaho,
We’ve never grown garlic. I don’t use a whole lot of it, but I have thought about growing it sometime. Harvesting sounds similar to onions. We wait for the onion green tops to fall over and look wilty, and then pull the onions and let them dry for a few days before cutting the tops off.
They look really good. You must have quite a few if they last you that long. I’m impressed they stayed good that long.
Hi Teresa,
I’m impressed they last that long too. We just put them on newspaper in a cardboard box in our basement. We have an older house with a limestone basement and it stays cool down there.
I tried planting spring onion once. But the rain smashed them ;-( Yours are great. Love this farm!
Hi Stephanie,
Sorry about your onions. Maybe some other time.
I haven’t grown onions for years, but after reading your post, I think I will definitely plan to plant them next year. I can only hope to grow them half as well as you 🙂
Hi Noelle,
They’re really easy, we didn’t do anthing special except regular weeding.
Your onions are magnificent! Were those “starts” that you planted? The ones I find here in OKC are always very puny and dried out. I’m going to make note of the varieties. I’m jealous of your basement! 🙂
Hi Linda,
The onions were ordered from Jung Seed: http://www.jungseed.com/ and they were sets. I’ll be ordering from them again.
Suzanne
Thanks for a wonderful site!
You likely know but I put my cutting board over the sink, run a small stream of water over the board, and promptly dip cut surfaces in water if the water doesn’t touch the cut surface.
Cut onions give off SO2 which promptly becomes sulfuric acid upon contact with water – so if eyes are the first moisture it finds – presto! – acid in the eyes; a quick douse with water prevents that!
Keep up the great work and enjoy your onions!
Hi Duffin,
Hi, will try that with the onion next time.
Thank you!
A better reading of the last submittal:
“Cut onions give off SO2 gas which promptly becomes sulfuric acid upon contact with water – so if eyes are the first moisture it finds – presto! – acid in the eyes; a quick douse of the onion cut surface with water prevents that! “