The bees have been going crazy over my onions-if you look closely at the photo you can see most of the flower heads have bees on them or near them. My Uncle asked me how I got such big onions for this time of the year-I told him that was my experimental onion bed. I’ll tell you the truth-those onions never got eaten or pulled up last year cause somebody laid down on the onion growing job (that would be hmm… me). Now I’m wondering-will onions that I planted last year just keep growing-I mean will I actually have onions as big as the ones I buy at the grocery?
Have you ever made up a story to hide your laziness-or am I alone in my deceit?
Tipper
Appalachia Through My Eyes – A series of photographs from my life in Southern Appalachia.
Your asking about a deceitful story put me in mind of my ex husband. I love him dearly, but ways parted at last. At this time he was housebound after surgery, but not by any means helpless or bedridden. I was working at a bakery, lifting 60 lb bunches of dough, slicing and putting bagels into a fabrication machine, plus a double on the weekends as a baker. I was very tired. The Ex was not doing anything to help out in cooking or cleaning. I live in Savannah and those great big water bugs that were in Atlanta are called Palmetto Bugs here, and in the summer they get inside the house, and of course, the next thing they do, poor old things is die. There was a dead bug on the living room floor and I decided to see how long it would be before the Ex picked it up. I waited two days and called his attention to the dead bug. With a lopsided grin the Ex replied, “I KNEW I should’ve moved that bug.” Not exactly deceit but a funny moment.
LOL, Tipper. You are not alone. I think we have all done that a time or two. tee hee
Tipper you are experimenting to see if you can grow your own onion sets, right? I have some onions they (locals) call winter onions that you can eat and cook with really early in the spring and they over produce their own sets every year, if you would like some send me your address and I will send you some as soon as they are ready. When they get to doing good the sets just fall of take growth.
BTW: You should cut the flowers of the top, they do not add to the bulbs. Cut them just above the joint.
Tipper: Sometimes you have to have a reason for your procrastinaion. I hope they give you a big onion head. Do you take the dirt from around the head to alow them freedom to grow?
Don’t look at it as falling down on the onion picking job last year… look at it as a thank you gift for the bees coming to pollinate all the rest of your garden.
Helen
hehehe… i have been slowly working on a post about my laziness and confessing to some of it as well as how often I kill things.. but I have been lazy n have not finished it yet.. 😀
Donna – “I have some experimental carrots like that.”
We call ’em “volunteers.”
The people who lived here before we moved in were gardeners. They dug up much of what they planted and took it with them when they moved, but we’ve had many lovely “volunteer surprises” this spring.
It’s a blessing and an adventure walking the yard each morning to find them.
God bless.
RB
Don’t think I’ve ever made up a story to hide my laziness that I can think of. I just usually admit it outright when I’m caught at it. ;o)
God bless.
RB
If you’da dug ’em up before they flowered, you’da had good onions.
Now, they’ll probably be woody, and just good for the flowers for the bees.
Bradley, I love that story! You’ve made my day making me laugh! The thing is it just sounds soo real!!
No, Tipper, of course I’d never make up a story to hide my laziness. I really did forget where I put the vacuum cleaner, Yoda really did throw up on the mop so I couldn’t mop, and I slap forgot what street my exercise class is on.
I think mine are better than Bradley’s car salesman.lol!!!! And your experimental onions are a very inventive improv….just shows how smart you are.
I used to have a friend named Lorraine, she would say to me sometimes “you lie and I’ll swear to it”
and we’d laugh!
Makes life interesting.
Tipper,
Guess I’ll just have to comment again….Since I suppose I totally missed the question…Yes, I make excuses about not getting things done all the time, but usually it is a bad case of the “rathers.”!
I’d rather be fishing, than working in the garden..but I love to eat those tomatoes..I’d rather be doing anything else except what needs to be done mostly!..I think most folks forget a few onions or miss a few taters, and miss a few turnips..note the blooming yellow greens along the roadside that have spread thru the years..ha..
I think your onions are true Bloomin’ Onions..ha
Thanks Tipper, PS…Did you have many honey bees on your onions? We saw a flat bed truck on the Interstate with a whole load of honey bees. I guess on their way to someones orchard or field Friday..Just amazing they had netting over the white hives that were loaded on the truck…When we passed it, oh, how I wished I had a couple of those hives…
Love the bumble flower picture! I think most gardeners have experiments like that. In my opnion it is good to leave a few things from last years garden to flower as it provides food for all types of flying insects. I found this out one year when I left carrots ~ they go to seed, flowering is going to seed ~ the wasps had a flight pattern to those carrot flowers, we learned to stay far out of the way of that flight path.
I’ve had onions remain in the ground for years getting bigger and flowering every year but that wasn’t the norm, they usually just go away sometime after they are done flowering. Hmm probably because I needed that spot to plant something else.
Tipper,
My leftover onions that I didn’t
dig don’t have pods like yours. I
can’t do onions bigger than a quarter anyway, so I just buy most
of mine. But by late June I’ll be
making all sorts of excuses not to
go into the garden…Ken
Word for the day-experimental!
“It’s an experiment.” Oooh, that’s a good one, I’ll have to remember that & use it myself,lol.
Stacey
SWPA
i make up REASONS to not do what i should, like I rather read a book than dust, or blog than wash clothes. or read someones post than wash the dishes. at first i thought someone actually laid down on the onions, perhaps a DOG. daddy grew little onions for salad and big ones to, i don’t remember because i do NOT eat onions.
Tipper,
I have used excuses and tall tales in the past like that but, right now I can’t think of them. Your post reminds me of an excuse that I once heard. There’s many car dealerships that are reputable and honest but, there’s those that aren’t. Once there was an older gentlemen in our area that bought a new car. After he had the car for a while he noticed that it would pull to the right while going down the road; He decided to take it back to the dealer.
The highly skilled and intelligent shop manager gave this excuse. He told the old man that the population was getting older and heart attacks and strokes were on the increase. To counteract this the car manufacturers had designed a fail safe trait into the allignment of all the new cars. The cars were now designed to veer to the right and away from on coming traffic in the event that someone blacked out. This would save many lives. So the old gentleman went back home.
When he returned home his son asked what happened. When the old man told him what that clod at the dealer said he became rather angry. I was there at the time and I remember what the son said. He said, “Give me those ##@@xx!!&* keys!” He went back to the dealership and guess what? They made an exception and fixed the car.
Bradley
Tipper,
As you know we grow lots of onions. We cut back to under 900 this year..We have some we plant just to eat in the spring and summer..Not all of these get pulled and eaten. About Feb. or Mar. when the tops start growing again we pull them and eat them as early spring onions..They will not make big onions as the outside has rotted in the ground but the new growth is good, but clean well. ha We quit planting local sold onion sets and order slips. They ship exactly the right time to plant for your area based on when you order..also they include extras..nice!
We buy from a company that specializes and sells only onions and slips. They sell onions for certain growing areas of the country, short day and long day varieties. I never knew before that only certain long day and short day varieties gave you the best results and that you were pretty much wasting your time growing anything else to try to store. There are some crossovers that will grow in both areas..I believe like us you are in the short day area..
Amend your soil, plant at the correct depth and when the bulbs start to grow, my husband starts pulling the dirt from around them as the bulbs get bigger. When the tops die, usually mid to late summer, pull and lay on the ground to dry for a couple of days..(don’t leave in the rain, ha) pick up and store. We grow red, yellow and white onions..Some are long keepers some are short..but we are thrilled that we now can grow red onions with success..
This company actually discourages you from buying onions that will not produce well in your area..
Good folks…believe me they know their onions, from variety, care to storage….
Thanks Tipper..Good luck on those onions…
I have some experimental carrots like that.