End of Season Review - Alliums

When it comes to HTML, I'm not a whiz.  I'm not even a quarter of a whiz....if there were negative whizzes, that's where I'd be.

So I think I have been messing up the HTML code on my blog with the tables I have been putting in my review posts (among other things).  This, in turn, was buggering up the feed.  I do all of my tables in Excel - no problems there.  But getting them into a post and having them look halfway decent WITHOUT messing up the code is not so easy - for me, at least.

So I decided to start inserting my tables as images.  Unfortunately, they aren't necessarily as crisp as I would like, but such is life.....so long as my HTML is happy ;)

Alliums

Back in September and October, I wrote fairly extensively about the results of both the onion, garlic & shallot harvests (Onions 2014 – The Results and Garlic & Shallots 2014 – The Results).

To summarize the harvests in table form:

Onions

Garlic

Shallots

 

I grew many different crops this year for the first time and onions was one of them.  Out of all my “firsts”, the onions were, by far, the most successful crop.  I started them from seed and had a few anxious moments along the way with forgetting to water the transplants a few times and then being worried about how small the seedlings were when they went into the beds.

Onion seedlings being planted

But as the summer progressed, my anxiety turned to excitement as the bulbs miraculously started to get bigger and bigger.

Rossa di Milano

I knew that the Ailsa Craigs were supposed to be big onions, but some of them really blew my socks off:

Ailsa Craig

Once harvested, I laid the onions on top of newspaper in the garage.  Eventually, I got around to building a bamboo curing rack, which I talked about in the Garlic & Shallot post that I linked to above.

Onions Curing in Garage
 

This year I spaced my garlic a bit further apart in an effort to increase bulb size, which was decidedly pitiful last year.  Since I only allocate one bed to garlic, the unfortunately consequence of wider spacing should have been fewer garlic scapes.  But for some reason, I was actually able to harvest more - 304 grams vs. 216 grams last year.

Garlic Scapes
 

Have no idea why this was, especially as I made an effort to harvest them sooner (before they formed a full loop) as last year some of them were a bit tough because I waited too long.

In the tables, I included the seed grown “Shallots” under the onion heading instead of the shallot heading.

Camelot Shallot

From the above photo, I'm sure you can figure out why.  At an average of 90 grams (over 3 ounces) each, I am using them more like onions than shallots, especially in recipes where the onion remains raw.


Overall Impressions & Plan for Next Year

I had never grown onions before, so this year was a first and I was more than happy with the results.  In fact, I was thrilled.

Rossa di Milano & Copra Onions
 

I was thrilled, that is, until I realized that most of the onions had become infected with onion maggots.  In most cases, it was hard to tell just from the onion's exterior how extensive the damage was and I was worried about how well the onions would keep in storage.

I chopped up and froze about 25% of the harvest, choosing onions with the most visible damage.  I also caramelized & froze several pounds in recipe sized batches – this suggestion came from Norma & has already saved me a heap of time when I needed to make an Indian curry or beef stew.

For the remaining onions, I decided to take Daphne’s advice and store them as I would have, had there been no damage.

Storage Onions Hanging in Basement
 

I’m so glad I did this as they are storing extremely well – so far they are all still nice and firm with no hint (as far as my nose can tell) of decay.

Needless to say, the biggest lesson for the year:  The allium beds need to be covered with netting as soon as the seedlings are planted.  In the case of shallots and potato onions, which are already in the ground, I will cover their beds in early spring.

We are going through the stored onions at a good rate, but I won’t know for several months if the amount I grew this year was too little, too much, or just right.  At the moment, I’m leaning towards the current amount being either just right or too much, so I will be sowing the same quantity this year.

The garlic, shallots and potato onions were planted in October, so next year’s crop is off and running.  I talked extensively about the varieties I chose and the changes I made to my current plantings in THIS post.

And even though I had a wonderful onion harvest this year, I’m kind of a worry wart and have my fingers crossed that I can replicate those results next year….beginners luck and that kind of thing ;)

Till next time…