Garlic, Shallots, Onions and Tomato Lessons Learned

Jones Tyler — Sun, 13 Nov 2022 18:43:31 +0000

The garlic and shallots are in the ground (about 2 weeks late, but that doesn’t seem to impact them) and I really only have the onions left. I tried the Egyptian Walking Onions last Fall – the goal being to get a set of perennial onions that we could eat on at most any time. Unfortunately, they don’t do that in my soil. I put a 2 to 3 inch layer of aged horse manure on a row and planted the onions. They came up strong and produced the normal head-sets. But, they never really put on any real size. In addition, many were actually rotting once we got to Salsa-making time. I can’t be sure if it’s the onion, my soil or the climate, but it really doesn’t matter. They don’t work for what I need. I’ll plant a few more in a different spot over the next week, just to see how they do (and they can be used for smaller onions or greens), but my goal is to try a different variety this Fall and to start some from Seed in January.

My tomato plants really put out a lot of produce this year – way more than I could eat or process (into canning recipes.) The other problem is that my plants were all gone by mid-September. Back in the day, I would have plants producing green tomatoes right up to frost. I haven’t had that out here in the Gooch yet, so I plan to tweak the process a bit. For next year, I’m going to shoot for 7 feet between stakes and reduce my plantings. I think I had something like 25 plants this year. We can probably get by with 10, but I will reduce my footprint to 20 next year – 2 grapes, 2 cherries, 4 Roma, 8 (or 10) regular. That will leave me with 4 (or 2) late plantings for early July.

onions – A Homestead of Flowing Milk & Honey!

Garlic, Shallots, Onions and Tomato Lessons Learned