That is what I call an onion harvest! Look good enuf to eat, Jay.

Are the big pink ones Bronze D' Amposti?

I've been growing Utah & Walla Walla for quite a few years. Of course, I started with WW but, strangely, the Utah Sweets do better in my garden - here, 200mi north of Walla Walla. Ovation, a hybrid onion, has done quite a lot better for storage and really is a nice, sweet-enough onion. Everything in this family does well for me which is a blessing since I like 'em all and not everything grows well in my gardens.

Steve

Very nice harvest!

I grew Utah onions this year and they've done well. Started harvesting in early August and still have a fair amount in the ground. Thinking of pulling the rest soon so I can get more fall/winter stuff going.

My neighbor, who grows a few thousand onion plants, showed me a trick this year - he intentionally bends the tops over about 2 weeks out from the harvest. Not crushing them over so the stems break, just bends them over flat so there is still some kind of nutrient/water circulation.

The bulbs double in size. He grows Candy onions, and they're routinely the size of small cantaloupes.

Mine do that naturally, and I thought it was a sign that they were done, and time to pull them. I guess not.

Hmmm! When I was a kid, lo-o-ong ago, we did that with our onions! Knock 'em all over in late summer! Never, ever would have thought about it again if David hadn't mentioned it! Then when they were pulled they were all spread out for a while in the HOT attic to "cure"--after laying in the garden for a few days! When dried they were stored in boxes in the basement--would have frozen in the attic!

Sure wish I had enough space to grow a few SWEET onions! It's rare to find truly sweet onions in stores anymore--no matter what they call them, and it's not possible to get ANY store bought onions that don't get moldy and turn to mush almost immediately anymore! "Back when," we stored our onions all winter--and seldom got mush!

Skybird

Posted by skybird. . . Sure wish I had enough space to grow a few SWEET onions!

Gardeners aren't usually able to claim that they don't have enuf room for onions, Skybird.

I've got them out there dancing cheek to cheek from the very earliest of the season. What I do lately with sweet onions is to sow seed in the unheated greenhouse in February. I pay some attention to conditions in there so that the soil doesn't freeze. The heat goes on in mid-March but the onion seedlings (they've sprouted by then) are moved outside after only a week or 2, once the heat is turned on. I'm hardening them off but soon, they are staying out overnight. Once again, I'm trying not to let the soil in the flat freeze.

Nearly as early as I put onion sets into the open garden, I'm out there pushing the little sweet onion (& bunching onion) seedlings into a prepared bed. I doubt if they've got 4" of ground between them.

As they grow, most of the onions are pulled for scallion use. That leaves room for maybe 1/3rd remaining to reach a mature, sweet onion size.

Scallions from sets come out first, then those from sweet onions, next come those bunching onions. There's no wait. While the bunching onions are still coming out of the garden -- the sweet onion bulbs are ready to harvest.

As I noted above, I have several sweet onions each year but Ovation really lasts well beyond the time when the Utah & Walla Walla's are gone (about the 1st of December at the latest). Apparently, my basement is a good place for onions. Since I've only got the Ovation for storage this year, I will have to keep track of how long they last but, they should do well.

Anyway, the mature onions are so crowded that they are almost, but not quite, pushing each other out of the ground at harvest time.

Steve

Steve I noticed your question about the pink onion but hadn't been back to the site. Yes they are the Bronze D' Amposti's.

I grew Ovation this year. Not sure the problem. Maybe they don't like drought conditions, extreme heat and wind. I had 1-2 nice sized ones. The rest fell over and the stem died without them sizing up. The Utah onions did better but not as consistent or large overall as the Sweet Spanish #6 and Burrell's Valencia. I have grown Walla Walla before but didn't this year. Will start them from seeds for 013. I'm also going to try Mt. Whitney. It has been suggested by a grower I highly respect. There is differing opinions on the benefit of knocking over the tops of onions. The first thing that is important for size is the number of leaves a plant has before they start to bulb. That is why planting times can be critical. I had as many as 21 leaves on some of the last to mature plants. You get one ring per leaf. The strong winds here tend to bend the tops over. So basically Mother Nature does it for me. Especially those that didn't mature till later in the season. I used to knock over the spring/early summer maturing onions that didn't fall over but never noticed a big difference between those that I did and those I didn't. Jay