Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Sunbathing Onions

Sometime around noon yesterday, a wind came up which blew our gray, humid air away and brought us a gorgeous, dry, sunny afternoon.

I'd been putting off harvesting our onions but this perfect day for pulling them and laying them out to dry for a few hours was just too good to miss.

These are onions from two 4' x 8' beds. I thought there should be more but considering that I've not purchased any onions since spring and have just gone out to the garden and pulled up a fresh onion anytime I needed one, I guess this harvest is decent. I'll be interested to see what the total weight of them is when they're dried.

The red ones didn't get very big nor are the yellow ones as large as some years. But a wind storm flattened the stalks of all the onions mid-summer so that may have affected their growth, too.

I left them out there until late afternoon and then brought them inside for the night. More drying out of the direct sun scheduled for the next several days and then they can be bagged up and stored.

One more crop out of the garden. Startin' to look a little bare out there.

8 comments:

Erin said...

Nice! I can't get over how perfect they look, ours here bolt in the heat of spring and have these huge wide necks that never cure properly... I have to chop mine and put them in the freezer for storage! I think it looks like an excellent harvest!

Anonymous said...

There is nothing like going to your garden and pulling up fresh vegetables. I love it!

Conny said...

You're on the harvesting end and I'm on the seeding end of onions. Hee, hee. That's a whole lot of onions!

Lorie said...

Those are beauties. Wish I could grow that many. Bought some just today from our local cooperative. Now I just need to get them in the beds.

Thanks again for the straw help. Thought I was doing something wrong, but great advice to spread out to dry. Will have to give that a try.

Kelly said...

I think the onions look great (big), guess that just goes to show how small mine are. :)

The Apple Pie Gal said...

Must not have been a good year for the reds all around. We set out 100 and got 10...no joke. But the yellow and white did fine like yours! My friend told me to tie and hang them in nylons...have you ever done that?

Jenyfer Matthews said...

If the garden is getting bare, then it must be almost time to start quilting again! :)

Mama Pea said...

Erin - Thanks, I know the harvest will seem better/bigger when I weigh and get them all bagged up.

Cindy - Isn't that the joy of gardening? I so miss it in the off-season.

Conny - Talk to those little seeds nice when you plant them!

Lorie - You're so welcome. Hope the idea works for you. (If it ain't one thing, it's another, eh?)

Kelly - Hahaha! It's all relative, isn't it?

Apple Pie Gal - I've never used nylons. I've saved a stash of mesh bags though and that's what I store mine in.

Jen - Oh, I hope so!!!!!