Last night, Jan 21st, I started the first seeds of the season. First up was all my onions which were started on the same day I started them last year, creature of habit. This year I am planting by the sqf instead of in rows which caused a bit of confusion at first.
Daphne was kind enough to message that an onion every 4" is 9 per sqf not the 16 I was thinking, I can be quite dense at times... I have allotted just under 11 sqf for storage onions & shallots this year. Given a 4" spacing I will have room for approx. 98 onions, I hope... The shallots I will space closure then 4" so extra of them were started.
This year I will be growing Armador F1 shallot, Prince F1 storage onion, Red Long of Tropea onion & Amish Bottle onion. All materials used were recycled from last year including the potting soil, cell packs, labels & tray. Most of my seed was from last year as well so I seeded five seeds per cell in hopes of growing two plants per cell. It is said that onion seed only last one year but I bet I will prove them wrong!
With the seeds all planted and watered I placed them on my heat mat under the grow light. Now to play the waiting game. Last year it took 5 days for the onions to start sprouting, this year with the older seed I am expecting it to take longer.
After the onions I decided to start an extra early tomato too. Last year I started an early tomato around Feb 14th and it produced an early crop. This year I am starting even earlier. It is another Siletz tomato, it is determinate and produces red slicers in just 52 days. Maybe I will have fruit indoors before it even goes outside.
This year I will be growing Armador F1 shallot, Prince F1 storage onion, Red Long of Tropea onion & Amish Bottle onion. All materials used were recycled from last year including the potting soil, cell packs, labels & tray. Most of my seed was from last year as well so I seeded five seeds per cell in hopes of growing two plants per cell. It is said that onion seed only last one year but I bet I will prove them wrong!
With the seeds all planted and watered I placed them on my heat mat under the grow light. Now to play the waiting game. Last year it took 5 days for the onions to start sprouting, this year with the older seed I am expecting it to take longer.
After the onions I decided to start an extra early tomato too. Last year I started an early tomato around Feb 14th and it produced an early crop. This year I am starting even earlier. It is another Siletz tomato, it is determinate and produces red slicers in just 52 days. Maybe I will have fruit indoors before it even goes outside.
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