The snow is flying outside. Already a half foot or more has accumulated, and I just came in from shoveling part of the driveway (the snowblower needs a little TLC). A fire is roaring, the tea kettle is on.
And now it’s time to bring a little life to the dead of winter. It’s time to start the first seeds of 2017.
Scallions, green onions, or spring onions – whichever name you go by – can be planted out as soon as the soil can be worked. And when April rolls around, I’ll be ready with 36 plugs of around 5 onions each. They’re rather slow growing, which is why it’s good to get such an early start.
Any onion can be started now, but I’m saving the room on my planting table for future seedlings, and just sowing green onions for now. I have bare-rooted transplants coming in late March, which will take care of my main onion crop. I’m still eating last year’s onions – Copra, a classic storage variety, and Red Wing, a red storage variety, both did very well last year despite the drought-like conditions.
A little bit of green will brighten up this very wintery -looking landscape in the coming days. A reminder that spring is indeed on its way.
Beane Hill Farm 