Potatoes and onions – The garden staple. Every year I plant them. Some years it’s a good harvest, some years not so good. This year wasn’t too bad. I usually plant a variety of potatoes: Red, blue (or purple), and a russet or yellow/white.
If I remember correctly, I only planted one bed of potatoes from the potatoes I grew the previous year. The other bed was a re-planting so to speak. A bunch of potato plants had come up in the previous year’s bed that I just dug up and moved. I generally try to plant them deeper and then add soil to the plant as they grow to create more dirt for the potatoes to form up in. I didn’t get around to adding much soil this year but I still got quite a bit of potatoes from the plants. The potatoes are delicious and it looks like I have enough to share as well. I forgot to weigh them. I’ll have to remember to do so next time. If there are any of these left in the spring when I plant next year’s, I will use these as seed potatoes and plant them and continue the cycle. I store these in the garage in a bin. My garage stays pretty cool so it works out.
As far as the onions go, I usually plant three different types: White, yellow and red. I also will often plant some bunching onions and some Walla Wallas. My crop did pretty good. You really can’t go wrong with onions. I usually buy the bulbs, although I have been known to by seedlings, or start them from seed myself. This year I bought bulbs for the red, white and yellows and planted them in late spring and pulled them out the middle of October. I braided up the ones that had a sturdy stem and were large enough to winter over. The smaller ones or stemless ones, I set aside to use them first. I’m pretty happy about my braiding effort. I then hung them in the garden shed where they will stay for the winter. I can just go out and snip a few off here and there when I need them.
The bunching onions I started from seed. At harvest time, I cleaned and chopped them up and put them in the freezer in about 1 cup measurements. Just perfect to add to some recipes as needed.
Do you grow onions? What are your favorite varieties to grow?