You heard me....never again! I've said it before, but this time I mean it. Never again will I use bird netting!!
I put it over the raspberries, so guess what happened. The canes grew up through the netting.
I had to go out this morning and cut the tops back on the new canes, and use scissors to chop the netting into pieces to remove it. It didn't hurt the canes to lop them off, I would have done it eventually anyway. It was, however, darned hard to get up that high to cut out the netting. I have a feeling I'm going to feel it in my arm muscles tomorrow! I'm happy that these are thornless raspberries.
I brought in the first of the Walla Walla sweet onions that had been drying in the shed. They need a bit more drying time, so I trimmed off excess stem and roots, and brushed the dirt off, and I'll leave them on the patio for a few more days. I weighed this batch for my harvest total. I can only weigh 4 pounds at a time on my kitchen scale, so I had to do it in batches. Here's the first four pounds, on the scale.
The second four pounds.
And the third four pounds, with one onion left over (I didn't weigh it).
That's a total of 12 pounds today, which is just over 29 1/2 pounds of Walla Wallas so far this year.
I still have these, which were pulled last night, drying in the shed.
And these, pulled this morning, to be taken to the shed.
This is probably my largest onion of the season. That's Mr. Granny's hand holding it.
It weighs 1 1/4 pounds. I wish they were all that large!
The storage onions didn't grow as well as the sweet onions. This one, on the right, is my largest so far, compared to one of the average sized sweet onions on the left. I guess they will be used as boiling onions in stews and such.
Dang Granny. That is a large onion. But sweet onions are always larger than the storage type. Mine will be that way too. Not monstrous like yours, but the sweet Alicia Craig will be larger than the Copra storage onions. I only dream of an onion that is over a pound.
ReplyDeleteOh, don't you just hate that stuff?! For me the worst part is collecting it up - I always think that if we used that for terrorist interrogation we wouldn't need any other arcane method LOL, that stuff drives me nuts! Nice onions!
ReplyDeletewow. that is a lot of onions! How do you store them? Do you freeze them?
ReplyDeleteHowdy!
ReplyDeleteI would of commented on my site, but for some reason it is not working. I found that Jacob Cline Bee Balm
and can't get enough of it! I heard you can make tea from it, however, I have not tried it yet. I also heard it makes your tomato plants taste better, I have not noticed that yet.
Your onions are amazing! I tried your idea for seeding carrots and for the first time, I have carrots!
You are the expert!
I go to your blog when I need to learn how to do something.
:-) Roberta ( robbie is my nickname)
Daphne, the storage ones are just puny. That "large" one might be as big as a golf ball.
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Erin, I won't be using it now. I cut it into little pieces, and it's going into the garbage! I will use the plastic fencing, it doesn't drive me crazy.
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Charmcity, we'll eat them as fast as we can, and I'll be giving quite a few to my four kids. If they start to go bad, I'll chop and freeze them.
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Robbie, I read every one of your blog entries, but I'm not very good to comment. I do enjoy your lovely floral art very much. I've never been a good flower grower, but I admire those who are.
Thank you for the compliment! I'm glad the carrots grew well for you!
Holy cow! That's an amazing harvest. We'll definitely not have any onions that large this year. How do you know when they've dried long enough for storage?
ReplyDeleteThat's a really nice harvest. Why are you pulling them every day or so, instead of pulling them all at once?
ReplyDeleteI've also seen a few recipes for pickled onions and onion jam. I bet these Walla Wallas would be great that way.
Wow! You should enter that onion in a state fair!
ReplyDelete:o) The visual of you cutting the netting down!
Jody, when all the foliage is completely dried, I cut it off, leaving an inch or two, then I leave them on the patio (or any well ventilated place) on a rack for a couple more days, just to make sure that stem is dry.
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Eleanor, I don't pull the until the tops flop over. If I leave them in after that, they rot, if I pull them sooner they won't get as large. I actually pulled my biggest one with no floppy top today, I didn't want to take any chances it might begin to spoil or bolt to seed. It was the last one, too. I need the garden space!
I'm going to try some Sweet Onion Jelly, which is the exact same recipe I use for hot pepper jelly, only with onions instead of peppers.
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APG, it wasn't fun cutting that stuff down, believe me!
ReplyDeleteMan those onions looked great. Hope you enjoy every last one of them.
ReplyDeleteAs for bird netting. I hadn't thought of using it without a frame to suspend it over my crops. Actually my plan for it this fall is to hang it over my hoops to let the girls peck through the beds I'm not overwintering.
Sorry you had issues. one of them.
As for bird netting. I hadn't thought of using it without a frame to suspend it over my crops. Actually my plan for it this fall is to hang it over my hoops to let the girls peck through the beds I'm not overwintering.
Sorry you had issues.
Your onions always amaze me Granny! Those babies are huge!
ReplyDeleteI never put the bird netting on the berries over at the plots. I guess it was a good thing after hearing what you went through. The birds really didn't seem to bother them.
Super harvest of onions. I know we can't get enough of them-I'm hoping mine turn out as good as yours!
ReplyDeleteWhat a mess that must have been with the netting.That Agribon I use works on birds, too----you really gotta try it. It won't let the canes grow through it--it just pushes it up.
Hacking through the net could not have been much fun at all.
ReplyDeleteThe onions are stupendous (note to self, add space for big sweets next year) and I learned too when to pull my modest onion harvest.
At one time we used bird netting over our strawberry patch and after a few baby robins got caught in it we decided that it would be best to simply share the harvest. Last year the birds enjoyed quite a few of our berries but have barely touched them this year...probabely to busy eating of our honeyberry bush. I have never had any issue in the raspberry patch though just with the strawbs and honeyberries...must be because ours come on so late that the birds have already flown South.:)
ReplyDeleteI noticed a small green tomato on one of the Kimberly plants that we got from you.:)
What else could you use instead? Tule?
ReplyDeleteHmmm, I wonder (and pray) that my Blueberry bushes will grow that tall while I'm alive :o) They were planted this year and i put a hoop house and netting over them.
ReplyDeleteI don't really know how tall they will get . The instructions said 6' W6' Tall.. Cecil killed a snake that got caught up in the bottom netting, ugh! I didn't want to see it. Is that a natural worry snakes and netting for blueberries? I'm going to get some of those Walla onions for next year ..what a bounty of them you have.
Those onions are wowza! Gorgeous! I have one patch that is doing fine and the rest are tiny like your storage onion example. After much thought I have come to the conclusion that my onion woes is weather related. We have had three years of generally cool and wet springs (2008 was the last really warma and dry summer for us that I can recall) and for the past three years my onion crops have been less than spectacular. I think they just are not getting enough sun (clouds and rain do that!) during the critical growing months prior to summer solstice. Not sure there is much I can do about this other than move back to central Washington and join you in the sunshine part of the state. :D
ReplyDeleteSinfonian, I use plastic fencing fabric, which is identical to the netting as far as the size of the squares but doesn't tangle up like the fine stuff. It can be stapled and stretched and used over and over. Love the fencing fabric, hate the netting!
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Robin, the sparrows are hard on my garden. I plugged the holes in the bird houses to deter them from nesting there, but they just moved to the arborvitae and raised a couple of families this spring.
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Sue, I'd worry about using Agribon or Remay over berries, which need bees to pollinate them.
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David, we love our sweet onions here. So do my kids, so even though they don't store well, they'll all be eaten up soon. We had our first big platter of French fried onion rings this week....mmmmmmmmmmm, good!
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Mr. H., the last time I used the netting was over the strawberries, then I wadded it up and put it away...far, far away! I dug it out when the sparrows came in for their spring garden attack, and just laid it lightly over the tops of the canes. I should have realized the new growth was going through it, not pushing it up. By the time I got around to removing it, it was a tangled mess.
Kimberly was an early tomato for me. I don't remember it as being one I particularly liked, but lots of cold weather people do. I'm so glad I planted your Bloody Butcher. At the rate my other tomatoes are ripening, it might be the main tomato staple in our summer diet!
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Ribbit, I wouldn't want to use anything that bees couldn't access. The raspberry blossoms are my biggest honey bee attraction. Maybe shotgun? ;-)
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Ginny, I don't have any blueberry bushes, but when I did, they were a small variety...I'd say 3-4' high and wide. And we're lucky that we don't have any snakes here. I did have them when we lived out in the country, and I hated them!
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Kitsap, I never have luck using sets. Maybe because I buy them in the bag from Lowes or Wal-Mart. They probably aren't the best suited for this area. If I ever sell that AZ property and stay home for the winter, I might try my own from seed.
How do you use the sweet onions before they start growing? They sure look lovely.
ReplyDeleteI hear you on the bird netting. I'm going to put my foot down this year and redo those arches with plastic chicken wire, I think. The netting is a pain in the you-know what.
Besides, Mikey is still yomping up the berries worse than any bird.
Stefaneener, LOL, at least Annie and Otto don't eat raspberries. Green beans and carrots, yes, berries no.
ReplyDeleteI buy the Walla Wallas as plants in March, and use them at all stages, from scallions to full size. In fact, my *scallions* are the size of baseball bats, as we've used the sweet onions instead. The only reason I even have the scallions is because I bought two bunches at the grocery store and couldn't use them all, so I planted them.
I've never thought about using plastic fencing to keep out birds. What a great idea. Your onions look great. My onions started going to seed instead of flopping over and starting to dry. Then I got busy, and now I have many jobs in the garden (other than picking onions) that need to be done!
ReplyDelete~~Lori
Oh, Lori, I have to get into high gear too! I have the onion bed to amend and plant with carrots and bush beans, the east brassica/onion bed to clear out, amend and plant with lettuce and ? (to be determined), and the north brassica bed to clear out, build a hoop frame and plant with beets and spinach! We are just finally getting some warm weather, so it doesn't seem like time to start the fall garden already.
ReplyDeleteOh wow! That's more onions than I'll ever probably grow in a lifetime. I really admire that you've managed to produce this much :)
ReplyDeleteLOL, Ben. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteI find bird netting to be extremely aggravating to work with. This is the second year in a row that my onions have done nothing! I don't know what I'm doing wrong. Growing from seeds and sets haven't worked out for me.
ReplyDeleteThomas, I had no luck with sets, but the seedlings I buy always grow well. I get around 120 plants for less than $3. I wouldn't try to grow them for that price!
ReplyDeleteYour onions look really good. My storage onions didn't get any size either, but my purple sweet ones did really good.
ReplyDeleteJeana, I have to be fair about my storage onions. When I planted them I was out of room so I put them around my broccoli and cabbage plants. They did get crowded out quite badly, so I guess I shouldn't be upset with them. Given space, like the sweet onions, they may have performed better.
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