#34 Madman’s Onion Harvest was Great
The madman’s onion harvest was great this year, and it was almost past time to get them ready for winter storage. At one time we braided the onions into long strands, but that was a task that always fell in my lap because the madman was a terrible braider. I’m not so sure that was the best way to store them. We would always have one rot – the one in the back that we didn’t find until the smell overpowered us.
Then, one year the madman discovered mesh netting onion socks on the Dixondale Farms website. Eureka! A convenient way to store our onions – no braiding involved. And so easy – just cut the top off the onion, drop it in the netting, tie it off, and repeat. So boring. But effective. We had harvested the onions before our road trip and it was time to get them off their drying racks. Cut, drop, tie, cut, drop, tie… As usual, the madman got bored so we started talking about our garden. It had been so much fun, and the produce was wonderful – we were trying to figure out what made it different this year.
Better planning, better garden
“We planned better,” the madman said. I had to laugh – we did have a good plan, but this year I actually kept the madman to his plan. We started the process about this time last fall as we looked forward to the Bethlehem Garlic & Harvest Festival, always held around Columbus Day weekend (this year it is October 12-13). In addition to the garlic bulbs, we had to decide what spring flowering bulbs we would order from John Scheepers-my birthday had just passed and my present is always an order from the catalog, good thing I have until the end of October to decide what I want to look at the next spring.
Garlic
Back to the garlic. We had to decide where to put the bed for our main cooking supply. Then we had to figure out where the potatoes were going because, you see, the madman uses garlic as a pest deterrent – edging the potato beds with garlic and other alliums. And, this year, the madman wanted to move his potatoes (time to rotate), so we really did have to figure out what would be where. A garden plan was hatched.
The new plan called for wider spacing between plants. The madman was trying to break out of his idea that “more is better.” He wanted to see if increased air circulation would truly improve the harvest. And, along with that he vowed to get rid of all volunteers that showed up in the garden – you know what they are-the plants that sprout from last years’ left behind produce. His deviation from this vow led to a problem in the sweet pepper row. He discovered a strange cucurbit growing in the row and decided to leave it. Foolishly, I let this go. Well, it seems like overnight that thing took over the row, crowding out the peppers and leading to a reduction in the sweet pepper harvest. We had enough for us, but poor Dolores got cut out and we didn’t get to freeze any.
Accidental Benefits
I would say, “Lesson learned,” but unfortunately volunteers actually helped out the row of death. Amaranth was left to grow in and around the row because it “looked cool.” Apparently, it provided well-appreciated shade during the heat of midsummer. The pepper plants have flourished. And, as the sun angle has receded and the length of day has shortened, the services of the amaranth were no longer needed, so the madman thanked it and cut it back.
Better Care
Not only did we plan better, we cared better. The madman had stronger seedlings to begin with because for the first time, he fertilized his vegetable starts in the green house and under the lights. We gave them another hit of fertilizer at transplant time as usual. But, we also set up a schedule of regular feeding throughout June and July.
The madman also became an avid weather watcher. With two actively operating rain gauges at home and one at the lake, he knew exactly how much rain we were getting. No more relying on the weathermen! If we didn’t get our 1” per week, we irrigated – either by turning on our irrigation system or by hand. Either way, our plants were well watered and they showed their appreciation.
Mulching
We were good about mulching this year, and that did two things: it helped keep the soil moist and it kept the weeds at bay. The mulch didn’t completely eliminate the weeds, so we did spend time on weed control. He has noted in the journal – “mulch between rows more.” We’ll see.
Mulching is a fantastic way to control weeds, but It can provide shelter for some very troublesome creatures like the squash bugs that were a problem last year. So, we didn’t mulch cucumbers or squash, and weeded these areas by hand. While up close and personal with our vines we were able to search for and pick off any threatening insects such as the madman’s nemesis, the striped cucumber beetle. You might say that for the first time we successfully practiced Integrated Pest Management (IPM). During our frequent coffee strolls and inspection tours, we found and destroyed a number of troublesome insects. We even discovered a relatively new invasive pest – the purple carrot seed moth – we hope we have seen the last of that one, but probably not.
Color Blocks
Our plan for the flower garden was to have blocks of color to attract pollinators. And, attract them we did! This year our gardens were alive with butterflies, moths, bees of all sorts, flies, dragonflies and hummingbirds. Because of these visitors, some of our plants suffered some munching damage, but we felt it was a small price to pay for the entertainment they provided.
Maybe they were always there, but we were too busy to notice them. This year we took the advice of one of the Master Gardener course instructors, Pamm Cooper – we sat and observed. And that was what really made the garden great: we appreciated it. From early spring on we have had a constant parade of pollinators and other beneficials.
A new butterfly just flew past the window, looks like it’s observation time. The lemonade is ready.
