Walla Walla Harvesting Time

August 18, 2015

Since I started cultivating the onion seedlings instead of viewing them as weeds, my attitude changed towards their care. I had been cutting off the onion flowers as soon as I see them forming so that the energy could be directed to forming the onion bulb. It is satisfying to see the swollen bulbs all in a row.

I started wondering whether it was time to harvest them....The last time I had a significant crop of onions was August 2013. August was here. A quick research to refresh my memory suggested when the stalk start to fall over it would be time to harvest the onions!! My husband walked by and glanced at my computer screen, and makes a suggestion that BLEW MY MIND!! I cannot believe I had never thought of it before.... but that is a topic for another post.

Transplanting self seeded onions seedlings

August 30, 2015

As the flower blossoms ripen, the seeds form within the flower globe. The seeds look like little black sesame seeds. Onion blossom globes stand high above plant, on the end of long stalk.  Some of these stalks are as tall as 3 feet high. Wind blowing through the garden sway the onion flower globes and scatter the seeds all over the garden.

Walla Walla Onions Flower

Onions is something my garden does not seem lack these days. Ever since I planted some Walla Walla onions in 2012, I have never had to buy onions sets or sprout onion seedlings since. It seems each season I get more and more onions. So much so, I have taken them for granted. Sometimes, I even found myself viewing them as weeds.This year, I decided to change my attitude towards these weeds and cultivate them.

My first approach in controlling these "weeds" was cutting off the onion flower heads. The flowers of the onions are marvelous to observe!.They start off small like the flowers of the chives; growing bigger and bigger, covered with a translucent papery skin. The whole flower bulb is actually a head of multiple onion blossoms. 

Flower blossoms encased in papery wrapper

You can see the buds through the papery skin. As the blossoms develop, they break open the translucent papery wrapper covering them. This allows the individual buds to mature and flower.

The flowers are so beautiful and looks like snow balls. Noisy snowballs a buzz with bees pollinating them. I know that bee are dying around the world but not in my garden!!