Creamgold Onion

The year 2011 was the second year for us growing brown onions. The result was a bit better than our first time but we still have a lot to learn. I still can't get the right pace at the stage of near harvesting and storing them well (I was on my first trimester-yucky phase so did not keep an eye of it-excuses). What I observed in our micro-climate here in Adelaide plain is that by end spring the weather warm pretty fast here so I have to sow the seeds and transplant them much earlier. I should have finished sowing the seeds by mid-April (mid-autumn). Because I was learning last year I did succession sowing until end-May which cause some to be transplanted late. Due to this the younger plants produce smaller bulbs when harvest time. Onion seedlings transplanting also should be completed by mid-June (early winter) in our garden here (space has always been an issue causing transplant delay). Now I learn one thing that long-day variety brown onion does not bolt easily in our garden (FYI, I never sow seeds indoors, all outdoors expose to the changing weather). We tried growing Cream gold onion (Eden Seeds) last year.

Cream gold onion seeds just sprouted and poking out from the soil.

I always wonder why the single allium leaf seedlings folds like that first.

Seeds coats attached.

Still very tiny look so fragile after few days transplanting seedlings in winter.

Onion do grow very slowly and makes you wonder when will the plant starts to bulb.

I presumed that this is mid-late spring because volunteer pink larkspur is blooming at the back.

Still no bulb just big leaves after 4-5months from transplanting.

Bulbs begin to develop.

Dried fallen leaves from my neighbour tree help with mulching.

The leaves shoots up straight when the bulbs develop?

No photos near harvest since the photographer was not feeling well.

Our official onion harvest is January-February (mid-late summer).

Growing onion makes you wait a long time before you can enjoy it.

For us the onion growing process starts from April and ends in February.

Although it end in February, it does take sometime to cure harvested onions for them to store well.

We don't encounter any problem growing onion here with pest or disease.

Its just the extreme warm weather at onion harvest season can be challenging.

If I water them near harvest season the papery onion skin won't be good.

If I don't water them at all , the plants will die.

Dilemma.

Any suggestion for future reference?

We did managed to harvest probably more than 70 brown onions in our small garden this year.

But not much left now, probably finish by end of this month.

Home-grown brown onion is so sweet different from the one selling in supermarkets.

Growing them took up space, but we still grow some because its different from what you get from the commercial ones.