Seeds, Hot Joe , a Blanky, and Candy Onions

Finally!
A day of rest. I have been fighting through extensive exhaustion for the last several months which has put quite a bit of a damper on most of our holidays this year.

But Finally, a day I have been chomping at the bit to enjoy..

I am spending my day at my leisure, With the first Seed Catalogs to arrive this year, a good cup of Joe with a double shot of espresso and a comfy, old, trusty blankie...

I 'll be interested to see how the weather challenge goes. Some thing in my inner core says I will want some good drought tolerant varieties this year. (especially having to plant all of my edibles in some one elses gardens this year.) My Friends Judy and Jay have large properties and gardens, and have graceiously offered me garden room since we have to turn and burn the areas we grow food and it will take me at least the the frist growing season to recondition the soil. but maybe the second growing season i can at least plant some roots crops and tender greens for late season salads and such. we'll see.

I just noticed , IT"S SNOWING !! WOOOWHOOO!
I love when it snows, especially if its a "warm" snow. ( Yes I know that sounds contradictory) I think , if it is warm enough, I will interrupt my day of garden catalogs and garden planning for a wheelchair ride in the snow.. but if i can't get out in it , I can at least watch it fall.

Any way, back to the garden

So I know that I will have to re start my winter onions ( aka Egyptian walking onions) and I want to put a patch of Candy onions in.
If you have never had a candy onion... you need to find one at the farmers market and try it , if you don't have room for a garden to grow a few . They are positively the BEST sweet onion out there, in my opinion.

yes that candy onion in the photo is as large (or larger) than some of the canning pumpkins harvested last year!

For long term storage over winter months , you cant beat a properly stored candy onion. These large onions are ..hummm.. DREAMY! ( that's a good word for them.)
They make the best onion rings, are superb in french onion soup and quiet tasty on a chilli-dog to say the least of them . These gems are wonderful in any dish quite honestly. OH and if you are one who uses onion plasters for chest colds.. these are the ones you want!

I prefer to buy the onions plants when I can find them as they produce the largest sizes at harvest, with sets coming in second and seed taking the very longest. Plus starting with plants or sets gives them more time in our local northern climate to mature.

Did yo uknow that as the days get shorter the onion stops growing? This is why onions are marked as to the day lenght ( amount of sun light hours in a day) you need to grow them.
These are a mid-day /day length neutral onion which means thay should do well in my corner of the world as they are not quite as fussy about how long the day is as are some onions .

I need to get them ordered in this week so they are here in time to plant long befor my last frost day ( I usualy plant in mid to late feburary , some times going as late as into the first 10 day of march (some times Ii have to wait till a bit later still ) . I like to get them in the ground as sooon as the snow melts and the groungs thaws so they get to the proper size for harvest.

Well, enough about the candy onion for now, I am off to start planning my first garden catalog order of the season. WOOO WHOOO!!

Till later!
Ma Fey