Well, At Least I Have Some Onions

The friendly people on the forums of Organic Gardening magazine have informed me that the large, hollow stalks on my onions means that they have bolted. :( That's part of the bad news. The other part is that I won't be able to dry & store these onions as "keepers" (the gardening term for being able to store them for months) because I didn't let the leaves dry on them in the garden. So, I have to eat them all RIGHT AWAY! My friends and family are going to l-o-v-e me! There is no way I'll get through them all in a timely manner so I've already given some away and will give more away over the next few days. I've also been told that I can either dehydrate them or I can slice or chop them up and freeze them (no blanching required - woohoo!) for use later. I haven't tried one yet. I need to get some lettuce so I can make a nice salad. :) Tonight the rest of them are drying on the hood of my car, sans leaves, with a fan blowing on them.

Oh - my Organic Gardening friends also shared with me some tips for next year: 1) buy sets from a catalog, not from a local vegetable stand (like what I've been doing); 2) plant with enough space in between to allow air flow; 3) fold the leaves over at the base of the leaf, where the leaf meets the bulb; 4) the bulb should be partially above ground; 5) wet weather is bad for onions which is why lots of sun and no/minimal mulch is a must. I probably also need to fold the leaves over earlier in the season. Everything says when they first start to droop. I know I waited too long this year.