ONIONS

ONIONS ONIONS & MORE ONIONS

 This year on April 6 2013 the onions were planted with hopes of a bumper crop.  Well that is exactly what was harvested.  A bumper crop.  180 onions to be exact, nearly half red and half white. 

I have been told that one should, "Never let a July rain fall on the onion crop."  For gardeners that means get them out sometime in late June so they do not rot.  This year when the last day of June ended it began raining therefore a July rain fell on the onion crop.  It rained for two days and were finally able to be pulled on the 5th of July. 

Now that's a wagon of Onions

With high hopes of braiding onions this year they were laid out on a table to cure for a few days however after some research I realized that time was not on my side.  The weather here has been humid with pop-up showers every other day and my onions were not going to wait to be braided.  I managed to cure them before the rains hit again and then cut the tops off of them leaving about 3 to 4 inches on the tops.  They need to dry again for a few days after the removal of the tops and I was able to fit all 180 in my wagon to dry the rest of the way.  After another threat of rain I decided that I better get them in their bags and hanging.  I was able to get about 20 in each of my drying bags that I use to store them for winter.  I hang them in the utility room in my house for the winter and they will generally last till January or February. 

Curing for another 5 days after removing the tops