It’s October, and here in the Pacific Northwest, that means time to plan alliums for spring eatin’!
At least, that’s what I read (this is still my first year doing all this).
Today’s inspirations and sources of information:
>Tilth Alliance Maritime Northwest Garden Guide
>Portland Nursery Onion info sheet
>Portland Nursery Garlic info sheet
I started in my raised bed that is currently home to two zucchini plants.
Baby onions tucked under the zucchini leaves.
I had been thinking very linearly—must finish the zucchini before I dare plant anything else in the same bed. But then, watching one of Charles Dowding’s videos (linked above) the idea of succession sowing finally sunk in. I decided to follow the crop rotation mnemonic I learned from the Maritime Northwest Garden Guide (“Leaf, Root, Flower, Fruit”) and follow my zucchini (fruit) with garlic and onions (leaf for their high nitrogen needs), all while my zucchini are still in the twilight of their lives.
First, I cleared away all the straw that I had been using as mulch. This straw was a total bust: it was full of seeds, so it was actually hay, meaning I was basically planting grass seed in my beds. Also, although I can’t be sure, I think maybe the straw is what brought on the root aphids that led us to dig up an entire bed in late August. We keep saying “this is the last straw!”
I found more root aphids, I think, when I cleared away the straw today, but I’ve decided that I’m not fighting, I’m moving forward. So, I pulled back the straw, scraped off the most aphidy soil, and dressed the top with a few inches of E.B. Stone Planting Compost, from Portland Nursery.
Then, I started laying out garlic cloves and onion sets. Here are the varieties we used (also from Portland Nursery):
Don’t worry, those prices are per pound. Although, I did not know that until checkout. I was fully prepared to pay $50 for two cloves of garlic!
Here’s how I arranged the garlic:
You can learn more about the difference between the two neck types in the links at the top of the post.
I tucked in the onions like so:
One of the red onions was already rotten, so only 5 to plant.
Those are my little hand-written tags, let’s hope the ink survives the winter rains.
I might even have some room to squeeze in a few more next to the yellow onions. Maybe I’ll go pick up some shallots tomorrow…
While he wasn’t singing about garlic and onions, the title of the post makes me think of this Nile Rogers tune.