Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Onion tops can be harvested straight from the garden whenever you need green onions for season-
ing or flavor. When the onion plant creates the green onion tops, they will put their efforts into the
bulb creation. As the onion matures, the tops of the onions will turn brown and fall over.
Cure the onions by laying them in a sunny, protected place until the outer skins toughen.
Long-day
onions
tend to form larger bulbs and store longer over the winter.
deFinitiOn
long-day onions
form bulbs when the days are longer than 15 hours, so they are a good choice for
southern gardens. In contrast,
short-day onions
produce bulbs when the days are 12 hours or less, so they
are better suited for northern gardeners. Intermediate varieties fall in the middle.
Onions are prone to mildew and rotting if the ground is too wet during the time when the bulbs
are growing. Overcrowding can also invite diseases in the onions. Onion flies lay eggs on young
onion leaves or in the soil around the plants. Then the larvae eat through the stems, bulbs, and
roots, so rotate crops to help break the cycle.
Ailsa Craig.
Huge long-day onion that produces giant, softball-sized bulbs. The yellow flesh is
mild and flavorful.
Red Burgundy.
Glossy red onion with pink-tinted flesh. This onion stores well and makes a good
slicer.
White Portugal.
Introduced in the late 1700s, this onion has medium-shaped onions and sweet,
white flesh. It's maintained its popularity for so long for good reason.
Peppers (
Capsicum annum
)
Peppers are one of those plants that everyone thinks of when they think of growing a garden. Sweet
peppers and hot peppers grow in much the same way and both, like tomatoes, enjoy the warmth of
summer. Peppers have many uses in the kitchen, so it's worth slipping these into the garden.
With hundreds of varieties available, you're sure to find a handful of pepper plants that do well in
your particular garden space. Plant several varieties your first couple years and try saving seeds (see
Chapter 10) from the plants that perform the best to develop strains suited to your region.
Start your seeds indoors so that pepper plants have a head start when the weather warms up.
Peppers can take up to 25 weeks to mature, so starting plants early will help gardeners in short-
season areas enjoy a good harvest of peppers before cold fall weather sets in. Transplant pepper
starts after hardening off into fertile soil with plenty of compost mixed in and mulch to keep the
soil consistently moist.
