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It’s Official – the 2012 Edible Garden

January 27th, 2012

‎”If you’ve never experienced the joy of accomplishing more than you can imagine, plant a garden.”

~ Robert Brault

The 2012 edible garden is officially started. On Tuesday I spent some time starting the first seeds of the season.

Two flats of ‘Copra’ onions are now resting on the heating mat in the basement seed starting area (seed source: Johnny’s Selected Seeds).

Copra onions are described like this: Uniform, “rock-hard” storage onion with early maturity. These medium-sized, dark yellow-skinned storage onions have the preferred blocky round shape with thin necks that dry quickly. Firmness and skin are superior. Copra remains one of the absolute best in our yearly storage trials, staying firm and flavorful after most other varieties have sprouted. Highest in sugar (13°-14°) of the storage onions.

This variety has been recommended to me by a lot of people, so I decided to give them a go this year. I’d like to do an experiment to see which method works best for good growth and storage so I’m also planning on direct seeding some in the garden in a month or two, along with buying a few plants. Should be interesting to see which method produces the best onions (I’m kind of hoping direct seeding works best as it would be the easiest and least expensive method).

Has your 2012 gardening season officially started yet?

16 Comments to “It’s Official – the 2012 Edible Garden”
  1. kristin @ going country on January 27, 2012 at 6:57 am

    No. I actually posted about this today. It made me feel sort of ridiculous to be getting all dramatic about “What am I going to DOOOO?” talking about a bunch of plants, what with a baby coming in July, but you know, it’s important to me. Growing our food is a large part of who I am, what I do, and how I contribute. It’s hard to think I won’t be able to do so much this year.

    That’s kind of the reality of motherhood, though. For at least a short while, my own identity will be subsumed by a baby’s. But only for this year.

    Reply to kristin @ going country's comment

    • Susy on January 27, 2012 at 7:35 am

      Makes you appreciate all the women that came before us that had to do it to survive!

      Glad to hear that Cubby will have a playmate!

      Reply to Susy's comment

    • Jennifer Fisk on January 27, 2012 at 9:40 am

      Don’t give up on gardening because of your baby. You will have the garden planted prior to birthing day. All of the motions, squatting or crawling on all fours, will be good exercises to prepare for birthing. If you mulch you can keep weeds at bay. You will become very consumed by the baby about 3 weeks from delivery until about 4 weeks post. The garden will be fine if you prepare it for less attention. Think about how wonderful for your shrinking figure fresh veggies will be. When you eat that first tomato, you’ll be so glad you didn’t choose to not plant. There are really ingenious front carriers for babies these days so you really can be mobile. Getting out in your garden will do a lot more for your mental well being than a clean house or up to date laundry.

      Reply to Jennifer Fisk's comment

  2. tami on January 27, 2012 at 7:30 am

    I’m planting onions from seed this year for the first time too. (hopefully this weekend) Mine are Red Creole from BC. But I’m also hedging my bets buying bulbs too. This will be my first onion attempt ever.

    Reply to tami's comment

  3. Joan on January 27, 2012 at 8:29 am

    I’ve tried planting onions from seed a couple of times (starting inside in January/February) without much luck. I usually plant from sets, but never had much luck with onions in general. Then last summer I planted plants from Johnny’s and had the most incredibly gorgeous onions – huge, delicious… I also watered them more than normal, though, so it may be that the extra water made the difference, not the plants. Who knows, it worked! I have some Copra onions still left in storage. They are a nice onion.

    Off to a slow start on planting this year though – since I’m not doing onions from seeds I have another month or two!

    Reply to Joan's comment

    • Susy on January 27, 2012 at 8:34 am

      Onions do like water. We have fairly lean soil here, so ours are usually fairly small – though as we improve the soil they’re starting to grow above pearl size! I was planning on purchasing a few plants from Johnny’s for my experiment. It’s good to know that they’re still doing well in storage as I’ve read that onions from plants/sets do not store as long as those grown from seed. One of the great things about the internet – you can connect with other gardeners and get first hand information!

      Reply to Susy's comment

  4. daisy on January 27, 2012 at 9:26 am

    I still have tomatoes on the vine from an earlier planting.
    I haven’t ordered my seeds yet, but am thinking I need to start from scratch, as last year’s garden didn’t fare so well.

    Looks like a nice setup you have there with the heating mat. I love experiments like the one you’re trying! Can’t wait to see all those beautiful onion bulbs coming up!

    Reply to daisy's comment

  5. Melissa on January 27, 2012 at 9:29 am

    I’m trying Australian Brown and Flat of Italy from Baker Creek as my onions this year. I started some from seed early last fall and already put those out back in October- they are looking great. Then I started some from seed the last week of December and will put them out as soon as they are big enough. I’m experimenting b/c I’ve heard conflicting things about whether spring or fall sown onions are the best here in the South! We will see!!

    Reply to Melissa's comment

  6. Jennifer Fisk on January 27, 2012 at 9:46 am

    I won’t be starting any seeds until at least the second week of March as we can’t be safe from frost until the last full moon of May which is the 6th and I’ll probably go with it but the June 4th full moon could be scarey. Let’s just hope this somewhat mild winter isn’t a precursor to a cold summer.

    Reply to Jennifer Fisk's comment

  7. Daedre Craig on January 27, 2012 at 10:17 am

    Still a little too early for me. I’ll probably start onions and celariac a couple weeks from now. Things don’t really get rolling here until late March/April

    Reply to Daedre Craig's comment

  8. gabe on January 27, 2012 at 10:23 am

    Just waiting for the seeds to arrive now. I also ordered some Copra, and I’m expecting big things! Or at least bigger than average… I too haven’t had much luck with onions in the past – heck, if I can get them all to be bigger than a golf ball I’d be happy. Good luck with yours; I’ll definitely be interested to see which method works the best for you.

    Reply to gabe's comment

  9. stefaneener on January 27, 2012 at 1:05 pm

    I’m always looking for a real storage onion. Last time I had to chop and freeze. And we use a LOT of onions. Maybe I’ll give them a try, but everything I grow except for squash is started indoors, generally.

    Reply to stefaneener's comment

  10. Bret on January 27, 2012 at 3:41 pm

    I have not officially started my garden yet, but I am in the process of running a water line to my backyard. The system I use is unique, it is called the garden master’s bucket garden. You can google it to see pics.  Happy Gardening!

    Reply to Bret's comment

  11. Domestic Executive on January 27, 2012 at 6:02 pm

    I only grown red onions and scallions now because my first attempts at storing brown onions failed in a pile of rot. Look forward to hearing how yours turn out for the better.

    Reply to Domestic Executive's comment

  12. Liz J on January 27, 2012 at 6:39 pm

    I guess I have to say that gardening season started here last November when I started geraniums and basil from seed. By starting basil that early I have fresh basil all Winter ~ every time I prune it, I use it. A couple weeks ago I planted leeks and onions. I spent today doing some major rearranging in my loft area to get more room for seedlings. I can’t wait to start planting tomato seeds…..but that’s a while off, with a lot of snow and ice in between.

    Reply to Liz J's comment

  13. KimH on January 28, 2012 at 11:37 am

    Nope, nothing going on here.. havent even really planned anything yet.
    Onions are one thing I’ve never been successful at. I can grow them from seed and they’ve never gotten larger than inbetween a pearl onion and maybe 2 inches diameter max.. Its frustrating since I’ve seen others grow big beautiful perfect onions.. Thats one plant with which “I aint got no magic”. ;)

    Reply to KimH's comment

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This is a daily journal of my efforts to cultivate a more simple life, through local eating, gardening and so many other things. We used to live in a small suburban neighborhood Ohio but moved to 153 acres in Liberty, Maine in 2012.

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