Tuesday, July 27, 2010

harvests: basil, onions and beets

onion harvest
beet harvest basil harvest

8 comments:

meemsnyc said...

Wow!!! That whole tub is basil!

James David said...

Onions on the chair...
Look so deliciously interesting.

Anonymous said...

So what onion variety did you plant? They look awesome!
Anna in MD

Getty said...

What a great harvest. It all looks so good.

Marian (LondonUK) said...

Looks like homemade Pesto may be on the Menu. I remembered where I had seen a rabbit repellent it is called Grazers Rabbit Reppellent, it is safe for the plants and pets, but deters the above and pigeons. You can get it from Seed suppliers over here, maybe there too.
Marian (LondonUK)

Z said...

I had beets once in my garden. I'm sure it would have tasted good, because it was huge, but I was never able to cook it in time, and before you know it, it had gone bad. :(

I had watched a tv program once, I think it was on PBS, but she was saying that to cook beets you need to wear gloves, and to bake it. I wonder if you could just put yours on the grill.

Happy eating!

Mimzy said...

I too want to know the variety of onions you planted. Did you plant them in the spring or did they winter over? Mine never get that big.
Carla

kathy said...

The onion varieties include Frontier, Ailsa Craig, and Ruby Ring. I planted seed in February inside under lights then transplanted to the garden in April. They need lots of sunlight and good soil.

Its important to plant seeds early in the season so they get lots of growth before the longer days stimulate bulbing. If plants are small when bulbing starts, the bulbs will be small. Also make sure you get a seed type that is recommended for your area. Since bulbing is so sensitive to day length, there are different varieties for different latitudes.

Onions also need constant moisture, well drained fertile soil, and at least 3 inch spacing.

Mine get bigger every year as I figure out how to grow them better.

Next year I think I should space them out a bit more and I should fertilize. I didn't add anything to the soil this year, but grew them in a bed that had tomatoes last year and was heavily fertilized and manured before planting the tomatoes. I like these varieties. They are mostly from Johnny's.