Great Timing

On April 19th I planted my peas and onions.  If you live in Milwaukee you know I have had some really bad weather timing.  The weather has just not been warm and now the weather forecast for the next week is rain and high temperatures in the 40's.  The joys of living by Lake Michigan in the springtime. Since my space is somewhat limited, I decided to plant a combination of yellow, white and red onions. The onions were ordered from Territorial Seed.  This is my second year ordering the Northern Mixed Bunch. This order contains three varieties in a single bunch of about 50 to 75 plants.

The bunch of onions right out of the shipping box

The bunch has three varieties - Walla Walla (white), Red Zeppelin (red) and Ringmaster (yellow). These varieties produced really well for me last year.  I had onions from mid August through the end of the growing season.  This year I took the bunch and separated the plants between the three varieties which was easy to do given the three colors.

Bunch divided into three varieties

I was easily able to plant about six feet of each variety.  The row I created was made out of my compost and mounded to about 6 to 8 inches with an application of a general fertilizer of 10-10-10. The onions were then planted about 6 inches apart and about 1 inch deep.  If you plant the onions too deep they won't bulb for you into beautiful onions you really want. Come on warm weather. My onion plants are waiting.

All watered and ready to grow.

Second Cutting of Lettuce and Spinach

It seems impossible to think that I could have harvested my second cutting of lettuce and spinach on April 20th given the winter we just endured on Fairy Chasm Road but I did.  In hindsight, I should have known it was a sign of things to come when after I planted some lettuce and spinach seeds in early October the plants got no bigger than an inch. My Juwel Company cold frame and thick layers of snow did an amazing job keeping the lettuce and spinach insulated and safe.  So, late next Fall plant some winter lettuce and spinach seeds from Territorial Seed Company in your cold frame and keep it watered until the ground freezes.  In the Spring you will hopefully have lettuce and spinach like this.  It tastes so good and your family and friends will love you if you share.