Plant Feature: Walking Onion

 

One of my favorite kitchen garden plants is the Walking onion.  I picked up this beauty at a DC Urban Gardener's Plant Swap.  Edible, of course, it tastes much like a spring onion.  The plant gets a fantastic blooming bulb on the top of the green stalk. It blooms and grows and then fold over and plants itself.  It can walk along this way all the way down the block in a few years.  It's a hardy plant here in the district: I've had luck transplanting it at all times of the year.  I treat it as a perennial, growing it without worry in the ground and in pots leaving them out and uncovered year-round.

Great uses for the plant:
Eating it (obviously): I love growing these instead of spring onoins.
Pickiling:  I haven't tried it yet, but Mr. Bottled loves pickled onions, so we will try pickling the bulbs this year for sure.
Containers: Great for adding some height to cascading hanging baskets.
Barriers: plant in front of your raised beds for a pretty and edible introduction to the rest of the yard.  

Planning ahead

Each spring comes up so quickly, and we get so excited, we miss a whole season. Early careful planning, and you can get a whole crop of vegetables before you put in those tomato plants. This year, stuck with a serious case of spring fever and armed with a cold frame, I vowed to get a plan, get some seeds, and get 'em in the dirt.  This year, I skipped starting the greens inside and put them right in a covered bed.  Soon, I'll start a round of half-hardy seedlings in the cold frame, followed by a a few rows of tender tomatoes. I can crowd them since I'll be spiting them up once the weather warms up and they are ready to move out on thier own.

Next up will be this year's plan for our community garden plot which we will probably plop our seedlings in. I'm dreaming of 7 months of produce from that 4x16 plot of land. Managed right, that would be a huge boost to our budget and health! Have you planed your crop rotations yet?

This chart is helpful in thinking about what sorts of plants to put in at what times. Many of the hardy varieties can be overwintered (missed out on that!), but many others can be planted with cold frames just moments before the spring officially begins.

PICKING YOUR PLANTS (Hardiness Chart)
Very Tender Cantaloupe Cucumber Eggplant Okra Pepper Summer Squash Sweet Potato Watermelon	Tender Bean, bush Bean, pole Bean, lima Corn Winter Squash Southern Pea Tomato	Half-Hardy Beet Carrot Cauliflower Irish Potato Lettuce	Hardy Broccoli Cabbage Collard Garden Peas Kale Mustard Onion Radish Turnip Spinach