So the plan was to get the onions in the ground by April 1. That didn’t happen. It was cold. It was damp. I think we even had a few snow flurries that morning. I wound up planting them on the 5th. And the 6th. And the 8th and 9th. Apparently I had grossly underestimated the number of onion plants I had, and grossly overestimated the number I could fit in a 4 foot by 8 foot bed. When I was finally finished, there were onions in the onion bed, onions in the salad bed, onions in the bean bed and in containers with the flowers. I thought I had about 130 onion plants, but I think the final count was closer to 200. I planted them on 5 inch centers to give them plenty of room to grow. The beds had been amended with compost and organic fertilizer a few weeks before planting. This is what the onion bed looked like on May 10th, about a month after transplanting.
This is what the onion bed looked like on May 31, almost 2 months after transplanting.
They’re getting quite big, but I don’t think the bulbing process has begun yet, at least I hope not. Each one has seven or eight leaves. If possible I’d like them to add a leaf or two before the onions start forming. As a long day variety, the bulbs should start forming when the day length reaches 14 to 16 hours. We’re at about 15 hours now, and the longest day of the year is only three weeks away, so something should start happening soon (if it hasn’t already)!