What to Plant Now, Soil Amendments
The cold nights over the last month certainly slowed down the arrival of planting weather, but it is time to get onion sets, shallots, onion and leek seedlings into the garden if you havenât already done so. To grow good-sized onions, they need to be planted as early as possible to have time to develop a good root system before the long days/short nights in June stimulate the plants to make bulbs. If planted too late (after mid-May) onions often donât make bulbs at all. Which reminds me, if you want to try growing your own onion sets, sow seeds of a good storage variety the first week of May, directly in the garden. Plant densely (3-5 seeds per square inch) and donât amend the soil with compost or fertilizer before planting because you want to these onions to stay as small as possible. As long as they are sown before mid-May they produce tiny bulbs that will be cured and stored same way as onions for eating. You should be able to harvest over a hund…