Harvest Monday - December 14, 2015


This week's Harvest Monday post is short and sweet - one harvest, one photo.  Perennial bunching onions:

Evergreen Hardy Perennial Bunching Onions

In my post a couple of days ago, I mentioned that mulching the perennial bunching onions would be a whole lot easier if I could cut them back first.  The only thing was, I wasn't sure how this would impact their survival over the winter.  To test this out, I decided to cut back the variety that I plan to get rid of - Evergreen Hardy.  If they don't make it through the winter, it won't be a big loss; if they do make it through, I'll feel more comfortable doing this next year to the bunching onions that I do intend to keep - the Nebuka.

The other advantage of cutting back the onions, of course, is that it gives you a nice big harvest.  The tops were trimmed of any damaged sections and then chopped and frozen.  The long white sections were made into another batch of Michelle's Garlic Crème, or in my case Onion Crème.  I first made the crème when I pulled the He-Shi-Ko onions back in the spring and it was so delicious.  I froze it in ice cube trays and then popped the cubes into a zip lock bag.  I first used the crème when I made a dish with some fresh Romano beans and tomatoes.  It tasted ok, but nothing special.  I added a cube of the crème and wow - what a transformation!  So now, whenever I want to add a little extra something to a dish, I toss in a cube or two.

My harvest totals this week were:

Perennial Bunching Onions – 992 grams (2.19 lbs)

Total to Date – 215 kg (474 lbs)

To see what everyone else has been harvesting over the past week, head on over to Our Happy Acres where Dave is our host for Harvest Mondays.

Till next time…


Comments

  1. You harvested more than I did last week! I'm so glad the onion crème turned out so good! I'm still going through my garlic version and being a basically lazy cook I often times find myself reaching for that rather than going through the process of peeling and chopping fresh garlic. It's not the same as fresh but it sure is tasty.

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    1. It's funny how things work out - I recall you made it originally to use up a lot of green garlic. I made it to use up a lot of very thick bunching onions that were harvested all at once. Had your garlic not bolted and had I decided to keep that variety of bunching onion instead of pulling them all out, we would have missed out. And now that I've had a taste, it's here to stay!

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  2. I didn't have much luck with the perennial bunching onions when I tried them, but I don't recall if they made it through the winter or not. My problem was that I didn't really care for the flavor. But now I have to make some of that garlic crème! It's about time to plant green garlic here and maybe I need to plant a little extra.

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    1. I'm still experimenting with them, so we shall see where that goes. I use them in cooked dishes, stir fries, etc., as my daughter isn't a fan of raw onion, so I haven't noticed much difference between them and regular bunching onions - other than their size, that is!

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  3. The onions look very healthy considering the time of year (what little is left here has brown blotches on everything). I really want to try perennial bunching onions next year so I've added it to my list (my really long list!).

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    1. I did remove a few of the outer leaves as they were rather brown, but otherwise they held up quite well, even with the freezes. No matter how many new varieties you try, the list never seems to get any shorter, does it :)

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  4. 2 pounds of bunching onions is amazing and your onion creme sounds wonderful. We really need a deep freeze so I can start experimenting with making that and your chimichurri.

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    1. I think a freezer is a great investment for a vegetable gardener. It's my best friend when it comes to preserving the harvest so that I can enjoy some homegrown goodness even when the ground outside is frozen solid. We had a smallish one for years and finally got a nice big one last year - and they are now both crammed to the gills!

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  5. I have the Evergreen onions all over the garden paths as volunteers because I didn't dead head them last year. I gave up on them because they were slow to mature and hard to harvest. You can't just pull one, you have to dig them out. Looks like you just cut yours off at the ground?

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    1. Last year, I noticed that the foliage on the He-Shi-Ko bunching onions pretty much died back over the winter. And since it's so much easier to mulch the onions without the floppy leaves, why not cut them back (as they will die off anyhow) before applying the mulch - the base of the plants is left to continue growing next year. And of course, I get a late fall harvest out of the deal as well. Only thing is I'm not sure if cutting them back will result in winter damage. But since I was planning on getting rid of that particular variety anyhow, I figured I may as well use it to test my theory. If I were harvesting them during the summer, I would pull them up as you did - and yes, I did notice that some were more difficult to pull up than others :)

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  6. Can you recommend a source for bunching onions? We had non-perennial bunching onions in our garden, and they were my husband's favourite. I didn't know they existed as a perennial.

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    1. I'm still testing out different varieties, as they do seem to grow a bit differently & their hardiness also differs. Last year I grew He-Shi-Ko from The Cottage Gardener, but found those too thick (I prefer thin bunching onions around 1/2" - 3/4"). This year I tried Evergreen Hardy from High Mowing and had the same issue - they were too thick and slow to divide. Another variety I tried this summer was Nebuka, which is available locally from William Dam - it's much more promising as the onions are the perfect size and the plants seem to divide at a good pace. Now I just have to see if they make it through one of our winters!

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  7. It may have been a small harvest, but you have made the most of it. Having your own veg garden teaches you that. I can't bear to waste anything that is edible. I have some clumps of Chives in my garden, and they have just decided to re-grow, but if we get any real Winter they may regret it.

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    1. The weather that is predicted in Jan/Feb is what has me worried - it's supposed to get VERY cold here. All my trees and bushes are sitting back right now, enjoying the mild temperatures - I've got my fingers crossed that they survive the shock of normal winter weather come the new year.

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  8. Well you harvested one more thing than I did. It's great to be harvesting anything at all at this time of year.

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    1. This is definitely the latest I've ever harvested anything other than herbs. And there's still a couple more harvests to go!

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  9. The onion creme sounds tasty. I'll have to check out the recipe! I like your approach to gardening--experimentation to learn new things as you go along! :)

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    1. With gardening there always seems to be so many different opinions and/or advice (or in some cases, very little info at all), that there is never a shortage of experiments to perform...lucky for us!

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  10. This is all new to me ...husband started 9 different kinds of heirloom garlic early last month and we enjoyed the taste difference of a few cloves we tried over the China garlic sold in stores. My half of the yard are flower beds and his has been Heirloom tomatoes and a few other items for about 10 years now. Ok now I have to take a look see at some of your other posts. Hope to be back.

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    1. I'm glad you stopped by Patsi! Sounds like you and your husband have the perfect mix happening in your garden. I started my veg garden 4 years ago and it's still a work in progress. I'm always envious of those with beautiful flower gardens and am looking forward to delving into that aspect of the garden in the years to come, once the veg portion of the garden is sorted out (or close to it!)

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  11. Hi! Still harvesting something! Good for you! I need to find a spot for some of those kind of onions. Can't be the back yard because Coco might eat them. Have the regular onions in pots in the driveway but would like to do some of the Egyptian onions or something that comes back every year! Merry Christmas! Nancy

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    1. I think that's just hilarious that Coco will eat onion greens from your garden! I hope you're able to find a protected spot to grow some in the new year. The perennial aspect of the onions is what first attracted them to me too.

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  12. We've never grown perrenial bunching onions, maybe one for the future.

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    1. Still an experiment in progress, but at least I've found a promising variety. Now we just have to wait and see if it overwinters, although since they are from a local seed house, I'm quite optimistic.

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