How To Plant Garlic And Onions This Fall

I didn't know you could plant onions in fall. They don't freeze and rot during winter? Do they get bigger if you plant them in fall?

I even had some that got left on top of the ground with a little hay over them and they were sprouting in the spring. This was from last winter that was so harsh. I was shocked.

I planted some garlic in pots last fall, but they froze, rotted and died...so planters aren't the ideal situation for those, at all!

I won't be able to do any fall plantings, because the soil is in such mega need of organic matter right now that I need to do that first. It needs a good FOOT of good organics tilled in. Soil is heavy and hard.

I have white, yellow and red growing. I got so busy that I didn't even check the onions this year to see if they were big. I am so use to buying them I forgot about them. LOL But there are lots f them from last year.

How bout some potted stuff on a bench so you can easily reach things? I did some sweet peas in hanging planters this year, got some mint in hanging planters and some lettuce in a bucket along with some cukes in a bucket, herbs in pots. Last year I didn't have ANY garden space at all so did the bucket thing only. You can even do carrots and potatoes...in a bucket, along with tomatoes and peppers, too.

Even if you can't do a lot of buckets, there's something so nice about going out there to clip your own chives for a baked potato, or parsley for chicken soup, or dill for some pickles, basil for spaghetti sauce. And it's all pretty easy to do even on a miniscule budget if you take several months to purchase even one or two items at a time, and get creative with your planters. I've had to do that.

The only space I have/had (until this year) was a very small area on my balcony which is only 3 feet wide and 6 feet long. One of the neighbors in the apt. building I live in, worked in a wood shop and he'd built a bench to sit on, on the balcony. When he moved, he gave me the bench which is just the right height to fit under my window. That's what I put my potted plants on.

My landlord liked what little I'd done on my area of the balcony, so much, that HE went and purchased hanging planters like mine, for the rest of the length of the balcony. He bought soil and flowers, asked me to plant them for him, and hang them along the balcony.

Between the rails of the railing, I put pots of herbs since that was the only sunny spot available, and some things must have full sun.

The only things I had for seeds were 2 or three years old, but I planted them anyway. Germination rate was low, but the survivors thrived and I used their seeds for this year's plantings.

When my landlord said I could utilize a small space on the ground for a garden, I was thrilled. It's only k6 or 8 feet wide, by 20 feet long, so I had to cram stuff in there.

One of my neighbors had a friend with a tiller, so he borrowed it and tilled the space for me. it took me some time to get it planted because I can't do a lot at once, and have to take frequent breaks. I had to sit on my butt in the garden to prepare it for planting. I used a board to sit on that I could move as needed so that I wouldn't squash the ground beneath me. Little by little, it got planted, but the weeds were ferocious. Again, I utilized some old lumber between the beds to sit on so I could weed. Each bed was wide enough that I could reach from either side for weeding, which I did sitting on my butt.

And the dang thing grew! I had nothing to prepare the soil, no amendments at all and the soil was heavy. I didn't expect much to come of it, but for it's size It produced pretty well. I was able to give about half of it to the people on my side of the building..12 units, and use the other half for myself.

At one point, things were looking a bit sickly, I had no idea why, but eventually the gas company came out and found a leak in their lines in the ally, only a 5 feet from my garden. That's what was making my plants sick. They had to come and fix it twice, but once they did, health restored to my garden. Right now, my six pepper plants are standing 4 1/2 feet tall, and they've produced a bushel of nice big sweet bell peppers. And they're STILL trying to bloom! ONLY SIX PLANTS! I've never seen the likings of that. I always put in a dozen or more and never had this kind of production after all the soil amendments etc..

YHVH hand to have his hand in this.

I only had 13 broccoli plants crammed pretty close together, and harvested about a bushel from that. Russet potatoes didn't do well, but then, for me they never do. Reds do better. But most impressive was the sweet potatoes. Only 7 slips from a sweet potato I'd purchased at aldies last year gave me at least 20 lbs of giant sweet potatoes! And you can grow them in pots, too! Only one pot to a slip..a big pot...like an 18 quart tub. They vine all over the place and if you bury parts of the vine early on, IT will make taters too!

If you don't bury vines, they will make a beautiful shade wall where ever you need one if you trellis them, or nice ground cover if you don't. I let mine trail throughout my garden as a natural mulch to retain moisture. Didn't have to water as much. So I ended up with a few sweet potatoes scattered throughout the garden.

I even grew celery! In the southwest, that's pretty much unheard of. But my neighbor had tossed out the bulbs of some celery from her fridge and I happened to be walking up thru the alley when I saw her do that. So, I grabbed the bulbs, peeled off a few of the outer stalks, and set each in a dish of water..just a saucer..with just a little water..maybe a tablespoon. Kept it moist and it began to sprout leaves up thru the center. After two weeks, I put the bulb into a pot. I had a lot of soil in the pot, but scopped just enough of the soil around the base of the bulb to keep it from falling over. Kept it evenly moist and they took off! After a couple of weeks, there was enough root to transfer the celery to the garden where it's now quite a bush lol!

I'm just going to leave it in the ground this winter to see what happens. I used the stalks for potato salad, and you can harvest the young leaves to dry for an herb. The stalks were a bit tough, but they saute up nice. The ones toward the middle are more tender.

I left some carrots in the ground so they'd go to seed, and I've not torn down the climbing green beans. I let some of that go to seed, too. It's a 7 year sabbath year and I'm curious to see what God does with what grows on it's own this upcoming spring. The poor are allowed to glean what grows on it's own so I think I might try that. I left several things to sprout on their own.

I hope some of that sprouts some ideas for you.

I can't really do anything outside at the moment.

I'm sorry to hear that too. I hope things get better for you, so I'll keep you in prayers.

I wish I could see your garden. It seems wonderful.I learned that carrot will live in the ground here through the winter also.

Some potatoes will too!

Maybe next summer you can post pics of your gardens so we can see them:)