You'd never guess we hand weeded this onion patch... at least twice. It was a game of "where's everyone"? Can you spot all five of our staff and volunteers in this shot? We each picked a bed and diligently followed the little rows of onions, four rows per bed to find them all. It's crazy how big a weed can grow compared to an onion, onions are very poor at competing for sunlight. This patch was fully mulched, the pathways and beds so the only places weeds could grow was in the hole with the onions (and the odd rip or edge of the mulch). Thankfully, they all got a good weed free start before the weeds get ahead of us in August, so we have a good range of sizes of onions this year. They're now all set out to finish drying "curing" on the greenhouse tables, which I don't imagine will take too long. Then we get to weigh them up to see how many rounds we can offer them up to our CSA members.
The bonus of growing so many different types of veggies is that each year is ideal for some of them, and not great for others. Last year we had monster onions in stock into July (more onions than we knew what to do with), but this year our onions got lost in the weeds. My sense is that we have a good supply for our winter CSA members, but not likely many rounds for our summer season when there's lots of other veggies to enjoy instead. Have you noticed? There's lots more on the swap list these days and it makes me so excited ;)
