Onions falling over but still small?

[tankgirl73]

Okay, this is my first year growing onions by myself. I planted lots of sets and they've grown really well.

Right now, all the tops have fallen over -- which is, I gather, the signal that they're ready. But the bulbs are still quite small, only 1.5-2" in diameter at the most.

Are they really done? Isn't it kind of early -- both in size and in season? (We're in eastern Canada, they were planted in late May and early June)

Also, are the entire tops supposed to turn yellow (or whatever) when they're ready? Mine are yellow/brown/dried just at the neck, where the stalk meets the bulb. There's a good brown paper layer around the bulbs too, if that matters...

The soil is good, it's raised bed with all new compost, peat, and vermiculite, most things have grown really well -- the only things that have suffered have been either eaten by bugs or drowned by the crazy wet cold summer we've had. I've read that onions do best with hot and dry, which we definitely have NOT had -- but is that everything that's going on?

Or are they just simply and naturally done, just on the small side?

[tankgirl73]

What I've learned this year

Time to post my list of things I've learned about gardening this year. I've had tiny backyard gardens before, but nothing for several years. I grew up with a big garden in our backyard, but this was my first time doing LOTS of stuff completely on my own. I did raised bed square foot gardens, 6 boxes of 4'x4' and one 8'x4' box 10" deep, for potatoes.

1. Potatoes sometimes grow way more than the eyes you think you can see.

2. 2 potato chunks per square foot is way, way too much.

3. Potato plants, when crowded, will bend, lean, and s-curve their way out of your box for 2' on either side.

4. Wet, cold summers suck. But you don't have to water very much. :

5. San Marzano tomatoes are not indeterminate.

6. Florida weave rocks.

7. Rather than mix 3 varieties of tomatoes throughout the gardens, plant the same variety side-by-side for 1'x4'. This makes florida weave much easier than dealing with plants 6' tall beside plants 3' tall.

8. Broccoli isn't worth it. Most of my plants were decimated by cabbage looper worms that I just couldn't keep up with. Some seemed permanently stunted. Only one plant grew a head. It was tiny and scrawny -- which wasn't unexpected. But when I saw it starting to bloom while still scrawny, I decided to harvest it right away rather than let it grow anymore. The next day when I went out to harvest eat, the entire head - untouched until now - had been eaten by cabbage loopers.

9. Rutabagas aren't worth it. Not in a SFG anyway. The leaves go like 3' in all directions and try to smother your other plants. The root bulbs are slow, twisted, and small. They're frequently dug up by squirrels. And they're hugely attractive to cabbage loopers...

10. "Plant as soon as soil can be worked" means do not wait until after the last frost date.

11. Lettuce does bolt. Cool.

12. Potatoes can grow fruit. Cool.

13. Plant more green beans. They have been productive and healthy.

14. Hardening off starts in the shade. Don't kill 1/3 of your tomato and pepper seedlings like I did.

15. Raised beds rock. The "extra" bean plants that I couldn't bear to just thin out, I decided to plant beside the house in an unused weedy bed, just to see what happened. I weeded it, added some compost, put in 7 bean transplants. 2 didn't survive the transplant. 3 more succumbed to slugs within days. The remaining two provided a few beans, some of which were nibbled by slugs, then stopped producing.

16. Our yard has a lot of slugs. Big ones.

17. Squirrels dig. A lot.

18. Tall mesh fences are more pain than they're worth. Next year, just use a very short fence around the boxes.

19. Cucumbers grow from UNDER the flower. Cool.

20. Cucumber babies are prickly!

21. Squirrels eat prickly cucumber babies.

22. Tomatoes can stay green a long. long. long time.

23. Watching tomatoes grow is fun.

24. Plant even more tomatoes.

25. Growing onions from seed is not worth it.

26. Romaine grows quickly and easily and is yummy.

27. Plant more romaine, and more staggered successive plantings.

28. Earwigs will collect in your lettuce heads.

29. Spinach freezes easily, so plant more spinach.

30. Carrots do, indeed, grow Just Fine in only 6" of soil.