Sign-up season is well under way at Old Plank Farm, and our growing season is now on the horizon, too. We kick off the year when we start onion seedlings in the (heated!) greenhouse just 12 days from now. Onions are started first because they take a long time to reach a size suitable for transplanting (10 weeks growing in the greenhouse; broccoli, for example, only takes 5 weeks to grow from seed to transplant stage). Also, onions are cold hardy so they can be transplanted into the field as soon as the soil can be worked in spring.
Another reason we like to start onions as early as possible is because they take a long time to seed. Each onion seed produces one onion, unlike each tomato seed which produces many, many tomatoes! So while we only need to start around 1,000 tomato seeds, we have to start over 10,000 onion seeds in order to have enough to supply our members with many onion deliveries throughout summer and fall.
Each seed is placed by hand into potting mix...that means Angelica will handle 5,000 onion seeds and I will handle 5,000 onion seeds on our first day in the greenhouse. Actually, Angelica usually ends up doing 6,000 and I do 4,000 because I get distracted fussing with our heating system! Early March is a great time to spend an entire day in the greenhouse plopping seeds into trays and listening to a book-on-tape (I think Pride and Prejudice will be this year's first pick).
If you too like planting onions, but don’t have a heated greenhouse for getting them started in March, you can buy plants from us in May. Mark your calendars for our annual spring plant sale and open house, Saturday May 16th. In addition to all the seeds we start for our own fields, we have a selection of tomato and other vegetable and herb plants for sale to fellow gardeners. We’ll put out a list of what’s available later in spring.
For the past two seasons, onion seeding day has also marked the return of Fritz and his wife, a pair of Sandhill Cranes who have lived at Old Plank Farm for the last six or seven years. Nothing says spring like having your hands in fresh potting mix and hearing the first calls of the cranes as they come in for landing. They always make quite a racket when they first arrive; I imagine they are arguing over whether or not they’re at the right exit. Let's hope they've put it on their calendars again this year! I am eagerly awaiting their arrival, and the arrival of all things green and alive in the coming months.
Past year’s onions on their birthday. Can’t wait for this year’s onion babies!