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robert2014_gw

Planting onions and other veggies

I have never planted onions before. I bought some onion sets , or atleast that is what I think they are called(they are small onions). It hasnt rained here in the last 4-5 days. the next few days forecast is as follows,

Hi Lo
75 60
74 47 with 80% chance of rain
46 33
50 32
56 41
66 45
64 44
69 50 with 60% chance of rain

With that kind of weather in the next few days, will it be a good day tomorrow to plant the onions?

Also this season I am planning on growing peas, radish, lettuce, spinach and chard (as well as the more warmer season plants later on). Can I plant seeds of any one the above tomorrow or should I wait?

Thanks a lot.

Comments (16)

  • terry_neoh
    9 years ago

    Tomorrow would be a good day. Really any day now as long as the soil is workable. Plant some lime or urea with them as they prefer a higher pH. Go easy on the urea, though, and side dress later when they about half grown.

    Any of the other plants you mention can also be planted any time now, again as long as the soil is workable. Just one word of caution: when I have planted early, sometimes heavy rain will saturate the soil and then you may need to start over. I try go get around this by planting in hilled rows, but it doesn't always work.

    Good luck!

  • terry_neoh
    9 years ago

    Oh, be sure to plant the pointy end up.

  • woohooman San Diego CA zone 10a
    9 years ago

    umm..... Onions prefer a little on the acidic side. Test your ph before adding lime.

    Plant peas when the soil is going to be dry for a couple weeks.

    Kevin

  • terry_neoh
    9 years ago

    Onions like nitrogen, which doesn't stay around long in acidic soil. Anyway, it's alway worked for me (at least for 40 years).

  • wayne_5 zone 6a Central Indiana
    9 years ago

    " Onions prefer a little on the acidic side. Test your ph before adding lime.
    Plant peas when the soil is going to be dry for a couple weeks."

    When would I plant peas around here...July?
    I thought onions like non acid soil.

  • terry_neoh
    9 years ago

    Wayne, you can plant peas any time now as long as you can work the soil and don't have to worry about soil saturation from heavy spring rain.

    As far as soil pH for onions, I did some searching and found recommendations anywhere from 5 to 7, with an average of 6.5 - 7.0, so I wouldn't sweat it much. But nitrogen will make better foiliage which will make bigger onions, but bigger onions tend not to keep as well.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Growing onions in the home garden

  • woohooman San Diego CA zone 10a
    9 years ago

    Wayne: Everything I've read says acidic. Dixondale says 6.2-6.8. Some say as low as 5.5. Don't know. My success with onions is limited due to inexperience and I always thought possibly for my less that ideal ph(around 7).

    LOL on the peas. Yes, I know that's damn near impossible for a lot of you. I've had better germ rates when the soli is barely moist and never saturated. Perhaps, cover with plastic or something to keep any downpours from saturating the soil the 1st 10-12 days.

    Kevin

  • robert2014 zone 5b
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Thanks all of you. I planted some of them today. Then I ran out of time.

    Am I too late to start onions?

  • terry_neoh
    9 years ago

    You can plant onion sets any time from now until memorial day. But direct planting seeds is pretty iffy in our part of the country, unless you just want scallions. You could start your seeds indoors but it's pretty late as the plants will be small and fragile. I usually start mine in Feb.

  • robert2014 zone 5b
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    No, not seeds, I was talking about the small onions. They are called sets right?

  • terry_neoh
    9 years ago

    Sets - right!

  • tommyr_gw Zone 6
    9 years ago

    I planted my Dixondale Sweet Spanish and Red River plants 2 days ago. Some in Earthboxes and an old recycle container. Got to plant a few more in my 3 x 8' raised bed next.

  • robert2014 zone 5b
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    thanks terry.

    So how often do I need to water these onion sets? I found all sorts of different info in google. so I am a little confused.

    thanks.

  • seysonn
    9 years ago

    You can plant anything in allium family, brassica family, lettuce, carrots, peas, spinach ... from seed anytime in the spring. The question is : HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE THEM TO GERMINATE /SPROUT ? The cooler the soil temperatures , the longer it will take. For example, the onions seeds that I planted about 3 weeks ago now are emerging. It took two weeks for garden cress to emerge. Fenugreek emerge in 5 days. Now one factor for early sprouting is that the soil has warmed up a bit. My snap peas planted around mid March are about 2" tall. Spinach is the same way.

    I have started my lettuce , chard and corn salad in my cold frame. It take much less time in there.

    Direct sowing is easy, if you are not in hurry. But just mark/tag the space where and what you have seeded/.

  • gardenper
    9 years ago

    I usually like to use Mother Nature's rain to help water, so when I can see that some rain is coming in (especially with 80% chance!) then I would definitely get as many seeds/starts/seedlings planted out as much as possible.

    The other part of this is that, while it's great to try to get them in before the rain, even the same day before the rain, but after the rain, you might have to wait a few days for the ground to dry more before doing other planting work.

  • terry_neoh
    9 years ago

    Like most plants, deep watering about once a week should be fine for onion sets. Constant watering could lead to pink root or thrips. Mulch is okay, but pull it back some whenthe bulbs start to form.