</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
Another thing I'd like to see is something to plant onion sets
[/ QUOTE ]
Me, too. I've tried poking a hole in the ground with my finger and putting an onion set it, poking a hold with a stick, etc., but the easiest (and not really easy at that) way I found was to drag a hoe or pick to make a trench, lay out the onion sets in the trench, then go back on my hands and knees pulling the dirt in around them and standing them up straight at the same time.
Incidentally, the little chain on the seeder that drags the dirt back in over the seeds isn't heavy enough to do a real good job if the soil isn't exactly the right texture, so as someone else has said, I usually drug a rake down the rows to cover the seeds a little better.
Never tried that with onion sets, Egon. I do know that plants will tend to straighten themselves up, so I'd imagine you're right. When the onions mature, are the roots on the bottom or on the side? [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] The guy at the nursery where I bought most of my plants told me instead of setting out tall slender tomato plants straight up as they came out of the little cups, to lay them down, cover the roots, then gently bend the top of the plant up and pack dirt around it so the part above ground was standing up straight.
We went through this last year about onions, I think. What I plant most of are the bare bulbs, no green a-tall! I call what you plant onion slips. The bulbs are probably more suited to the hillbilly planter, though they come in such a wide range of sizes some could rotate and end up bass ackerds in the ground even if started down the pipe with the roots down. However, if I used that method, I think I'd poke a hole in the ground and drop in the bulb, since that would be more likely to keep it in the correct orientation than in a groove. Of course, this year I've already put in my onions, and I had the back pain to prove it!
OK, Chuck, I'm a little familiar with those kind of bulbs from seeing them for sale and from my brother-in-law who lived about 4 miles from us using them. I never used any. I normally only used 1015Y onion sets (or slips) and couldn't see any reason for me to use anything else. I did plant a few of the red (or purple) onions a couple of years. They weren't bad, but didn't do as well, nor did they keep as well as the 1015Y onions, and while they certainly look good in salads and such, I couldn't tell that they tasted any better, so I quit using them.
With tomatoes I set them in upright but bury the stem 3 to 4 inches. They seem to stay in a static state for a long time and then suddenly start growing at a very fast rate. I do the same with pepper plants.
Now youv'e got me dreaming of of a slab of warm fresh bread slathered with mayonaise and covered with a half inch thick slab of fresh picked sun warmed tomato and thinly sliced onion all garnished with some freshly chopped basil.
Egon
We got the first asparagus yesterday. It was a surprise since we had just had frost, and I was sure last year it didn't come in until the middle of May. HooHaa! Spring has sprung!
Turns out those seeders are available locally for less than I can find on the net....at least for new. I haven't checked e-Bay, but the local price is about $60 and I can go for that.
Got one of those dumba$$ stories for y'all.....
Last year I had my garden soil tested and everything was fine except it needed more organic matter. So, last fall I collected all the leaves from the yard and tilled them in to the garden. That looked pretty good, but I also thought a green manure cover would be a good idea. Now, if the leaves were already on the ground, you can kinda figure it was getting late in the year, right? Well, I figured things named "winter" this and that should still be good to go [img]/forums/images/icons/blush.gif[/img] , so I spread winter rye (I think) all over the garden and my to-be strawberry patch. Nothing came up. Big surprise. I figured I'd just composted some seeds, and thought nothing of it. Now, of course, the stuff is coming up all over the garden and amongst the newly planted strawberries. I only have a little of the garden in and can deal with that part, and of course I'll just till in the reat of the garden before planting, but the strawberry patch will probably be fun. [img]/forums/images/icons/blush.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/blush.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/blush.gif[/img]
This thread inspired me to get one. It showed up yesterday (I got it over the 'net, which may have cost a bit more but it sure was easy). It looks like a pretty nifty little gadget and I'm excited to see how it works.
If it will stay dry for more than a day or two I can go ahead and plow. But we keep getting rain - unusual for out here, but good since we're still short on seasonal rainfall. Not good for turning the soil, though...
Reply With Quote
