Discussion: onions and leeks

Hey Becky, I'm getting ready to order onion plants for spring. Going in with my boss on 4 bunches (4 different long-day varieties). We'll have more than we have room for, so I can drop a variety sampler in the mail to you if you're interested. They have leeks too in case you want to order some of those directly. We've had great success with these transplants from TX. I get the best production when starting from these rather than seeds or sets, and the price is reasonable. They come in bunches of 50-75 plants, $11 for one bunch, but only $5.87/bunch for 4 bunches, shipping included. The leeks are $13/bunch (60 plants).

Dixondale Farms

Lots of information and interesting videos on their site. Did you know that the "ideal" onion has 13 leaves? Lucky long day!

We want them in the ground as early as possible (mid-March or as soon as the ground thaws), so we're going to request a March 10 ship date. If you order leeks maybe we can trade - send me a few leeks for a few onions. I'd suggest a trade at the TT, but CA is touchy about bringing plants across state lines. Its a bit like kidnapping :)

We're going with these four long-day varieties:
Copra
Walla Walla
Ailsa Craig
Red River

Note that these transplants are probably not organic. I try to grow everything organically at home, but I'm not so strict that I refuse transplants or seeds.

Okay, I didn't reply to this before because I have had pretty much no space in my head for anything over the last ten days! Thanks for the suggestions - I may look up the varieties but I think I will start from seed again. I bought myself an actual set up with the money my Mum gave me for Christmas/my birthday, so I think the seedling will be a little more impressive this time - I hope! And no need for them to clutter up the kitchen either!

I have to do some work on grant stuff today (yey, thanks, last minute four month early closure date of grant that usually closes in June!) but am hopefully going to plan the garden stuff tomorrow. Trying to decide whether to put at least one more box in - I think so!

Excellent! I'm nursing along some water hyacinths from the pond, but they're looking pretty sickly at this point. I've also had to watch the tulips in pots in the garage - with this weather even the garage may be too cold for them. I'm starting the green peppers from seed this weekend, and will start toms and flowers mid-Feb.

Also I'll be in Tucson next week for work. Not sure if I'll be able to get far from town, but if there's anything pressing you guys need for the training camp I might be able to get out to the terrain. Do you know if there's a sprint map of UofA? Cristina probably knows. I'll be on campus Tue-Fri.

There is definitely a U of A sprint map - I think Barb will have a file and Cristina too, obviously. I don't think we have got as far as planning anything yet but will let you know if we come up with anything to test run!

Just tell me the rattlesnakes are still asleep and I'll be happy!

I have an old version of the U of A sprint map, pretty sure someone like Ludwig would have the most recent. Probably needs a bit of touching up as there is almost always something being built or renovated around campus.