Good season for allium

 

Ilhan, Rayyan and Mik planted some onions that has started sprouting (Onion sets?) while I have to do some work in lab today. Mik said Ilhan planted 4 onions. Then  he keeps saying sejuk sejuk (cold) waiting for Mik to finish planting the rest.

We will wait and see if we could get something from these sprouted onions. I am just not sure if these onion can survive next Adelaide summer and heat wave with our so limited water resources. Onion need at least 8 month to produce nice bulbs and that will be next year!

 

We also sow onion seeds direct on the soil alternating with carrots (companion planting).  Those onion (Aussie brown variety) just started germination 2weeks ago. I will thin the onions when they look like spring onion for miso shiru. Australian brown onion (Allium cepa) seeds were bought from phoenix seeds. Australian brown (brown spanish) is an older style (<1900) storage onion with firm, off-white, pungent flesh. Onions begin to produce bulbs naturally as daytime hours get longer (late spring through summer) which makes the time of sowing rather critical if normal size are to be produced. If sown out of season the plants are likely to grow through more like spring onions. Maximum bulb size is usually reached when the tops start browning off.

When I was studying in Japan, my landlord (oyasan) gave me a bag full of onions (tamanegi) every year. My oyasan like to garden but has a small family so she gave some of her produce to me whenever I drop by to pay my rent. She plant her onions in front one of her apato building she owns. Onions she gave me always last me for a long time. Well I was alone that time and a poor student. Now I am still a poor student again.

Last May, we bought 1 punnet of red odourless onion. Planted those onion seedlings in containers and patch near broccolies so we get less attack from unwanted creatures. They are the same size as mature spring onions now but we see no bulbs yet. 

I enjoy looking at leek plant in the cold season rather than the warm season. Planted 4 leek varieties this year.Germination is good in cold weather than summer. I wasted lot of my leek seed sowing in summer. Poor seed germination in summer.

 

 

We also have garlic in the patch. I would like to plant more but we have another month to spring. I don’t think we have space to plant them anyway.

 

‘Red Stem Welsh” spring onions- the stem turns to red when its cold. I got to see the stem turn red now. It was not red when I planted them during spring.

‘Red Stem Welsh” spring onions and red odourless onion plants are making us confused. In the veggie patch they look similar now.Sometimes I forget which is which and Mik has to keep on reminding me.

Chives are slowly growing in the veggie patch now.

This is the story of our happy allium family which is one of the members in our veggie patch for now…