I’m certainly convinced and won’t do it again. At least not on a small scale. Not worth the time or worry. On the other hand, it seems to me that 2 wheelbarrow loads of onions would rot in storage in the long term.
Is that a big wheelbarrow or a small wheelbarrow? I’ve got a big wheelbarrow and I can’t imagine having it full of onions. Shoot, it must be about 20 gallons. I don’t really know offhand.
My wheelbarrow probably holds closer to 40 gallons. But this was onions with tops and roots still attached so the actual onions were about 1/4 of the total. The onion bed that year was also 40 feet long by 3 feet wide. Day neutral onions don’t store for more than a month or two. I learned a long time ago to chop the onions and store them in the freezer. I usually have half a dozen gallon bags after harvest. Also, the onions I grew that year were Sierra Blanco, though it was known by a different name at that time.
I’ll have to measure my wheelbarrow, but I think that it is as big as they make. I know that my wheelbarrow is the same size as that that my father used for the dairy barn.
Good information about storing onions in a freezer.
Thanks for providing the details of growing onions. My bag of sets has small and larger sizes. Looks like I will be harvesting the larger ones as scallions.
I’ve had very good success doing what @Fusion_power described. Either growing my own from seed or buying plants from dixondale. I usually do Vidalia type short day onions. I plant mine out in early feb. The only trouble I’ve had is some years small white grubs infest the roots which often kills the plant. If you fertilize they get huge. Ready to harvest mid-may.
I should clarify that I’m putting out either live or dormant plants. Fusion talked about both methods - sets and plants. I have not done sets.
I dehydrated the year I had a bumper crop of huge onions (from seed). Then I put the dehydrated onions in the freezer. They were equal to fresh in cooked dishes. The following two years I had very poor crops, but the dried onions keep for years in a freezer in little space, and are great for camping, motor home or cottage. Now I am buying store onions for the first time in several years. I think the gophers did in a lot in last year’s garden.
I love to start my onions from seeds indoor. Two reasons: to sooth spring fever in the middle of the winter and protect my soil from diseases that can come with the sets.
When do you start the seeds?
Just started onions few days ago, didn’t even emerge yet. Last year it was December. Also started small pot of parsley - it always takes forever to it to start and some lettuce for using now. Next would be hot pepper in Feb and the rest - March - April
Thanks, Galina.
We are always late. We promise ourselves to start earlier but ….
Don’t worry too much. I start onion seed in the second or third week of January to set out in mid to late April. Figure out your normal date to put them in the garden and back up 3 months.