A lot of the advice says not to mulch onions due to rot issues…however, I CANNOT keep ahead of the damn weeds. It seems like I turn my head and sneeze and the weeds have grown taller than the onion plants.
If I use a fairly thin straw mulch this spring, and pull it away as the plants expand, could that work?
I always do - I mulch them with shredded leaves. And I keep mulch there till harvest.
Ditto. I always mulch with a good layer of straw or shredded leaves right from the beginning. IMHO, Onions and garlic are nearly impossible without it, unless you want long straight rows and lots of hoeing. I’ve heard the bulbs size up better if you clear the soil and mulch away from the top, but I’ve never bothered and I’ve never been particularly dissatisfied with the size of my onions.
I don’t mulch, if your not adverse to chemicals, Prowl H20 is labeled and gives excellent control. It’s the only way I can grow onions.
I’m not averse at all. I’ll check that out!
I’d still recommend the mulch. It makes watering way easier and the onions just generally seem to do better with it. But I am a biased observer of my own (and my onions’) actions.
The aliums just don’t like being crowded or dried out, and mulch solves both problems. Plus, nothing is better at keeping the earth a bit cooler than the air, which roots like. Judiciously chosen mulch can ultimately fertilize, and practically eliminate weeding. I use soil pep, compost, grass clippings, rotting straw, something along those lines for my garlic. Haven’t grown onions for quite a while, though, as we can get such good ones so cheap.
That’s how I like to manage them, too. I do find though, that onions give you some of the best ROI on your space and effort, especially if you grow the fancier kinds, or shallots. I can grow $100 of onions in half the space and 1/4 the effort of $100 of tomatoes.
The main negative I am concerned about, is because you set onions out in very early spring…Will it keep the soil TOO cold?
My garden costs me money no matter what I grow, partly due to the fact I had an expensive initial outlay to set it up:
Purchased compost
Tiller and other tools
Fencing (no fence = 100% annihilation by deer)
Over time it will pay off more…but mostly for me I do it because I enjoy it.
Too true. But you (almost) cannot buy a good tomato, and the good ones, well, we just love 'em!
Although if you’re growing tomatoes pruned and trained on wires you can get a lot of interplanting worked in with them, and that helps some. We always plant basil and a few peppers in amongst our tomatoes, and sometimes sneak in a few lettuces.
Yeah, it’s about the enjoyment for me. My “how much it costs” numbers don’t look so hot when I factor in my time…
Yeah, good tomatoes are hard to find. Fortunately, that’s gotten a lot better around here. I still grow tomatoes, though.
Lettuce is a good one. I like to plant out lettuce with spaceing for peppers and tomatoes in mind, then plant into the gaps when the time comes. The lettuce ends up being ready to cut right around the time the peppers or tomatoes need the space. No wasted space!
I always struggle with onions, it’s too hot and too dry and too weedy. I went to my friends garden and saw luscious mounds of onions in a wide row, heavily mulched of course. She said she had kept them under a row cover and mulched them. I will absolutely try it this year.