Jay, I always worry about that kind of weather-induced bolting and some years it is inevitable because onions are biennials. I am particularly worried about it this year, just because we've had such abnormally cool weather much of this winter. For anyone reading this who is new or fairly new to growing onions, the key is that onions which are less than the diameter of a No. 2 pencil (approx. 1/4") generally will not bolt even if exposed to temperatures below 45 degrees Fahrenheit for a prolonged period of time. Once the onions have reached 1/4" in diameter, prolonged or repeated exposure to temps below 45 degrees push them into dormancy, and they 'think' that dormancy signals the end of their first year of growing. Then, when they warm up and start growing again, it is the second year and they do what biennials do in their second year.....they send up a flower stalk to set seed. I don't know any way to prevent that sort of bolting because it is a natural process. The best chance of preventing it likely would be to grow them under a low tunnel and hope the low tunnel keeps them warm enough during cold spells that they aren't pushed into dormancy. It might work even better with a frost blanket added inside the low tunnel Eliot Coleman-style during colder spells. I guess you could keep the low tunnel warmer by painting milk jugs or 2-liter or 3-liter bottles black, filling them with water and using them as solar collectors. With low tunnels, I'd be worried about excess humidity on sunny humid days though. (sigh) Jeff, I think we only have two kinds of growing seasons here....those that are too wet and those that are too dry. I am not sure which is worse. As much as I hate drought, I almost think I'd rather have drought than a rainy year. At least in a rainy year, you can irrigate, at least for as long as you can afford the water bill and as long as you are not under mandatory water rationing. In a wet, year, though, we can't vacuum up the excess moisture out of the ground. I've had the idea in my head for months that this would be "the year of the bean" because my beans didn't produce well last year, and of course, it is always the year of the tomato at our house. However, I'm starting to fear it will be "the year of mud and floods". Dawn

Sherry, Well, I think you can plant them and have limited success. Onions have to be in the ground and achieve a certain amount of growth before bulbing is induced. Since bulbing is induced by a combination of daylength and temperature, it is going to happen when the daylength-temperature combo is achieved, whether the onions have been in the ground for one week, one month, or whatever. So, that is why we have to plant onions so very early--to get maximum growth before initiation of the bulbing process begins. Most onions needs to be in the ground a minimum of 90 to 100 days before bulb initiation starts in order to size up fully, and some need 100 to 120 days. Short day-length onions will begin to bulb up once the daylength (hours of sunlight) reaches about 10-12 hours in combination with the right temperature. Intermediate day-length onions need 12-14 hours days to bulb up. Long day-length onions will begin to bulb up once the daylength is 14-16 hours and the temperature is right, which is why the long daylength onions are not grown in our part of the county. (Our daylength here maxes out around 14 hours.) So, if the onions go into the ground late, they will grow and they still will bulb up once bulb initiation occurs. They'll just be smaller when bulb initiation occurs, thus, they will be smaller at maturity than onions that were planted earlier. One reason that short day-length and intermediate day-length onions planted in the southern third of the country get bigger than those EXACT same varieties grown in the upper 2/3s of the country is that our weather allows us to plant the onions up to 5 months prior to bulb initiation, and the northern states' colder weather does not allow them to plant until approx. 75 days before bulb initiation. So, if you plant late this year, you'll get onions that are "northern-sized" instead of "southern-sized", but you'll still get onions! If you don't mind knowing you'll get smaller onions, go ahead and go for it. It would be a good learning experience if you've never grown onions before. Some commonly-sold short day-length onions are TX 1015Y (aka Texas Sweet or Texas Supersweet), Yellow Granex, White Bermuda, Southern Belle Red and Contessa. Some commonly-sold intermediate day-length onions are Candy, Stockton Sweet Red and Superstar. Some commonly sold long day-length onions (and these should NOT be sold in our region) include Borrettana Cippolini, Red Torpedo Tropea, Ailsa Craig (there's also a tomato by this name), Copra, Big Daddy, Red Burgermaster, Red Zeppelin, Walla Walla, Yellow Sweet Spanish and Ringmaster. I've already planted my main crop of onions, but I do continue planting onions in various spots around the garden as companion plants, and I will, probably through mid-to-late April. Of course, I don't care if those companion-planted onions bulb up or not. Sometimes I leave the companion plant onions in the ground until the following year, and let them bloom in the spring. Their tiny flowers attract a TON of tiny pollinators and beneficial insects, and are quite attractive as well. Dawn

It depends where in zone 6 you are. Near the shore, you have more time, since the first frost is delayed by several weeks compared to inland. I have never had good luck with cool season crops for this very reason - I either wait too long and they don't mature, or I try too early and they bolt (or they fry!). Grass-planting season starts the 3rd week of August around here, so I guess if I were planning on trying fall peas or lettuce that's when I'd get ready.

Keith, I don't plant by an almanac or moon pnases or whatever, as I find the more important factor to be whether soil temps and air temps are in the right range that each plant needs. I plant based on knowing what our air/soil temps are likely to be at any given time, the DTMs of plants I am planting, etc. and I seldom have a problem getting a crop. When I do have trouble, it tends to be related to some sort of weather extreme....flooding that leaves the soil too wet for weeks or temps that get too hot too early in the year and shut down flowering, fruit set, pollination, etc. If using the Farmer's Almanac works for you that's great, but I find it hard enough to make sure we have the right air temp, soil temp, moisture level, etc. to plant anything at the 'right' time. Trying to wait for the right phase of the moon in addition to all the above just makes gardening more complicated than I want it to be. I like to read Farmer's Almanacs for historical data, averages, etc. but I ignore the moon phase stuff so, since I don't use it, I cannot comment on its effectiveness. One of the local 'old timers' here told me from the first year we moved here that I should ignore all that 'outside' info, including most lists of recommended planting dates, and learn to 'read' my own microclimate (he didn't use that word but it is the one that best describes what he meant), weather conditions, soil temperature, moisture level, wildlife clues, etc. For example, he told me to wait until the native pecan trees had leafed out before planting tender heat-loving vegetation in order to be sure the last freeze or frost has occurred. I've tried it, and it seems to 'work' about 9 years out of 10. I think we've only had a hard freeze here after the pecans leafed out once or twice in a dozen years, making his method of forecasting the last freeze more accurate than local forecasters, almanacs, the NWS, etc. So, every year I try to observe and understand what is happening in and around my garden and adjust planting dates accordingly. It works better for me than planting by any other method, although of course I have the planting dates memorized for reference purposes. There are a couple of folks near me who try to plant by the moon signs and I don't know how good they are or aren't at doing it, but they have not had highly productive gardens. However, you know, we don't know if their gardens would be any more productive if they weren't planting by moon signs, now do we? Dawn