Our friends, Mike, Dara, and Sherri came, and we packed seeds into packets all morning. We had visitors just before noon. So, Will and I visited with them about gardening and seeds while the crew continued to pack seeds. When our company left, I quickly made lunch, then we headed out to the Wolf Garden to plant onions. All million of them (so it seemed). Dara had not worn “garden-friendly” shoes, so she volunteered to mop my kitchen and dining room floors, not that they needed it, mind you.
The planting went very well. As I had tilled the garden previously, the soil was loose. I drove the golf cart down where we were going to start, then as straight as I could all down the garden, next to the asparagus. The tires marked a straight area and Will followed, using the Duc plow. What’s a Duc plow? I found it online. It’s a hand-held little plow on a handle that you walk backwards to make a furrow about 3 inches deep. You can use it to cultivate, throwing soil up onto growing plants, plant smaller seedlings and, as we used it, to plant onions, which don’t get planted deeply.
After Will finished a 100-foot row, he came back and we started planting. I drove next to the row and handed Mike half-bundles of onion plants. He set them, one at a time, spaced about right, into the row. Behind him came Will and Sherri, setting the plants in. It was a little windy and cold at times. But not too bad. When we ended up, we had four 100-foot rows with five different varieties of onions, Yellow Spanish, Patterson, Cippolini, Red Wing, and Ringmaster. As Sherri wanted onions and didn’t have enough garden space to plant a lot at home, we planted hers with ours and we’ll just share onions, come harvest.
The plants in the heated greenhouse are doing very well. The peppers and tomatoes are nice and stocky. The melon, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, squash, and pumpkin seeds are germinating well. Inside, it feels like spring! I can’t wait to start out in the garden. But, in reality, we’ll be waiting for at least another 3 weeks before even putting in potatoes. We’ve found that, yes, you can plant potatoes earlier. However, if it freezes, the tops will be killed and if a period of cold, daily rain, arrives, the potatoes will rot in the ground. We’ve found if we wait until that type of weather has passed, we never have to replant our potatoes, and they produce much more in the warmer soil.
Yep, the mom fox moved her pups. Will and Drew found their old den, right behind and under the woodshed! No wonder she was worried when her pups got big enough to leave the den! I found the new den, in a path in the woods, next to the driveway, but quite a way from it. I saw it this morning, remembering the hole started last fall. There is another hole, down the hill from it, under some fir trees. I didn’t bother either hole but did notice a big wolf track in the sand around the hole. He was just passing through but boy, that was a BIG track. Bigger than even Sarge’s!
Happy spring everyone! — Jackie
I’d decided not to have a garden this year; last year’s was so poor; poorer than poor. Maybe let it rest? But, no. Husband said he wanted a garden, tilled, and made rows. But way too late for onions, did minimal planting, sowing in first week of May, zone 9, far north California. I usually braid my onions, and hang. Had no place dry and dark place for storage, so kept them in the she-shed in these tremendous hot temps with little shade from summer. Many shriveled, but many used!!
That’s a LOT of onions! I wish I could grow that many but there’s no place to store them here long term. It’s “use ’em or lose ’em” before they go bad. Question: how deep do you plant those beautiful sets?
With the planting of two watermelon hills yesterday I can now say that the 2026 garden is officially IN. Your Donkey Ears pepper plant looks great and I can’t wait to see what they look like as well as the Long Tom tomato and the Britta Footlong beans that have popped up.
We got a nice cutting of kale yesterday and the second light picking of peas. Three more broccoli heads to go and it won’t be long before more cabbage is ready. Your three Tanana tomatoes are setting little greenies. I was wanting to set them out really early to see if they do set fruit at 40 degrees but the weather varied so much that the cold spells were really way too cold for any tomato. Whipsaw weather!
Time to switch into garden maintenance mode.
Wow, and we, up north, have barely started planting!! I plant my onions only about an inch and half deep. Planted too deep and they have trouble starting to bulb as the bulbs form partly out of the ground.
We’ve sure been having crazy weather too. It was 22 two mornings ago and the highs are in the fifties some days. I can’t hang my hanging baskets up yet or they’d freeze.
As Jackie is alluding to, you are generally planting the roots; and a tiny bit of bulb, because later, some people will ‘ring’ around the bulbs so there is no resistance to growing larger. So “shallow” as she said, so that you don’t spend so much time unearthing around the bulbs.
My onion plants came but I still haven’t had a chance to prep the bed in the hoop house and it’s still freezing most nights even when the forecast says no frost. Also I’m still doing physical therapy from my little hospital trip to remove thirty pounds of water! This week I’ll get it done! I think you can use what my uncle called a “waren hoe”. It’s triangular and I use mine to do seeed rows. I prefer to use my dibble (pointed stick) carved from a piece of a broom handle to set onion plants. I have another one carved on the end of a d handle shovel, leaving the handle on to hold it by to transplant small cole plants.(the ones started in four or six packs).my plants are started ion the house but I can’t afford too much propane at current prices to think about moving to the green house and I’m not up to keeping a fire in the wood stove out there.
I sure hear you, Howard. We tried to schedule things so we’ll only use one 250 gallon tank of propane this spring in the greenhouse because of the price of things.
That’s a cool way you’ve developed to set out your plants, especially the handle on the dibble! Aren’t we homesteaders clever though?? : )
Jackie, I was waiting to hear about your Mother’s day trip to get the flowers?
You just got to tell us!
Take care
She mentioned it last blog, in a comment, briefly.
I just put up a blog about the annual Mother’s Day trip. Hang tight.
Oh your greenhouse plants look wonderful!! That was a close one with the fox that close. You are really blessed with your friends.
We were a little shocked to find a fox den within 50 feet of the house and chicken coop. Maybe she thought it’d make easier chicken-napping if there were any more hens that decided to fly over the fence and free range like last year.
Yes, we are definitely blessed to have such good friends!!
No Mother’s Day trip?
Oh yes. Stay tuned to the blog I just did. : )
Wow! This is a lot of onions, til you mention four families use. Then it makes me wonder’is that enough?’ Got my few onion starts in looking good with the cool 40’ nights and 80 days. Glad you have the golf cart to help you save on your knees
Yes, that is a lot of onions. But, boy, do we love our onions. I’m a little worried as my garlic hasn’t popped up yet, though.
That solar-powered golf cart is sure a knee-saver, for sure!!
Those tomato plants look fantastic! Last year I overplanted the tomatoes and they didn’t do as well since I crowded them. I knew better but ended up with more plants than I intended.
This year I’m limiting myself. They tell us we may have one more frost this coming week,
so not planting until that is over. We can usually keep the coons out of the sweetcorn and
they don’t mess in the raised beds. Sounds like you are off to a great start. Take care.
Yep, tomatoes sure don’t like to be crowded. It’s hard to imagine just how big those plants get. I know some of ours will be 8′ or more tall.
Ugh, the “F” word. It was white out yesterday morning. I mean WHITE. We won’t be planting for quite a while.
Wow that’s a lot of onions. I planted 60 feet for us-family of 2 (some go to family members). We got a much needed 1/2 inch of rain. The garden soil has been hard as concrete. It is still too cool here-am temps low 40’s. I’ve been raising New York early onions and my own seeds. The potatoes are planted and peas growing nicely. We have too many ground hogs (I called them whistle pigs)-several are quite chubby. Also I have seen bobcats and badgers. It’s fun to see the wild life but I could tolerate fewer raccoons. I haven’t seen any foxes in the past few years. When I cut hay they used to come out of the woods and get the field mice. We have and abundant deer population. A 6 foot high perimeter fence does not keep the racoons or squirrels out of the gardens. All of this makes growing food challenging. I’m looking forward to some water weather.
Nope, those coons and squirrels will climb over (coons) and through the fence. A couple of strands of electric wire will keep the coons out, but the squirrels? Nope. I live trap them and carry them miles away to a wild area with no gardens within miles.
We got a little much needed rain last night so I’m going to try to till my rock-hard clay in the Wolf Garden this afternoon. We’ll see how much help the rain was.
Wow! 400 onions!
I’m finally got the push mower back so the front yard is going to become a garden 30×40.
Have planted more peppers – cayenne – so I can have pepper 🌶️ flakes for the winter with homemade chilli!
Prices are Soo ridiculous. Feel sorry for people on fixed income but at least I am trying to do all I can without to much complaining.
Soon warmer days and more time outside will always make things better.
Take care.
That was much more than 400 onions! There were about 100 per bundle and there were like 9 bundles. It’s for four families though and we all like our onions, onion flakes and onion powder. I’m glad you got your push mower back so you can mow your new garden area.
We had a huge male raccoon that was a frequent flyer around our feeders. A few weeks ago, better half heard a huge kerfuffle and I’ve not seen the raccoon since. This is why our cats are now indoor only.
We too had hail damage, claim came through today. My state *finally* woke up re: P&C rate increases being justified – one thing to pay for claims in my area but another for hurricanes. I expect my rate to up but insurance is a gamble – you think you’ll incur a loss/death, insurance company thinks otherwise. Replacing the roof was a retirement budget line item but is no longer.
You have good friends – better half and I split house work – yes do partner up with a person (male in my case) that can cook and clean as well as do laundry if need be.
Will be time to plant tomatoes, cukes, and zukes here soon.
Yep, we don’t have very many raccoons here but do have a lot of other predators, from bobcats to wolves. So our cats are in by nightfall every night.
And I agree, insurance is a gamble. But we don’t want to be without it. Just in case. At our age, rebuilding without insurance isn’t realistic as it was when we were young.
Will doesn’t cook but he does a better job at vacuuming than I do.
We’re still a few weeks from being able to plant in the garden.