woohooman, The wooden (homemade) boxes are 4 inches tall with about 3.5 inches of soil. Bottom is made from scrap sheet metal...(In my case, made from discarded metal signs.) Plastic boxes are 7 inches tall with about 5.5 inches of soil. No difference in results with either box type for onions. However, I do find that the wooden boxes generally do better for many other seedlings. Plastic boxes tend to hold more moisture and some plants don't like "wet feet". Wooden boxes don't have this issue but they do need more frequent watering. I usually plant my onions about an inch or so deep. In the above picture this would be covering about half of the white part of the stem. Onions can be planted smaller than pencil size, which would be in late Novermber (for me), but I find that plants are less fragile if I wait. Also, IME the larger plants tend to start growing sooner so there is no advantage to setting plants earlier.. might be because of our milder December climate. This post was edited by grandad on Sun, Aug 17, 14 at 12:28

Well, I ended up using most of it for soup tonight. Threw in some yellow squash, zucchini, salt, pepper, basil, oregano, bay leaf, then som cherry tomatoes, after the veggies tender added bell pepper and leftover roasted veggies from the other night, cooked pasta. Very thick but good. linda lou - DH would love it to drink (even fresh not canned) - I don't have a PC, what would you add to it to drink? It's very watery. Not roasting chicken weather (not that it's soup weather either but we had a bunch of veggies).

Oops, I meant to type: 4 or 5qt saucepan 4 or 5qt cast iron oven (LC or staub) 4 or 5qt ss casserole (cladded or disc?) 5qt chefs pan 3.5 or 5qt qt cast iron braiser

When I bake potatoes in the Nesco, I generally place them without the rack and against the side, then flip them around every 15 min or so. I like a crisp potato skin. If I have the fan attached I use the "Roast Air" feature, otherwise I go without. But because of the crisper skin from convection I sometimes use the convection oven if that's out and the Nesco is in the cupboard. Another thing you could do if you like them crisper is to put them in a pan. A bread pan fits nicely in a 6 qt unit. Turn them a time or two Although you do have to do some adjusting with a roaster oven I really don't find it any more confusing than the adjustments you need in other cooking, like a gas vs electric stove or oven, or a larger vs smaller frypan or large vs small potatoes, or humid or dry conditions for baking or whatever. Don't be afraid of the Nesco. It can truly be a great friend and helper! It's really one of the most forgiving appliances I've ever used and I heartily endorse and recommend a roaster oven. I happen to own Nesco brand and like the quality and have seen a difference in other brands although mine are probably 25 years old now so quality may have changed, I haven't looked closely. The electric roaster is really not the mystery many think. It's a portable oven with different options. The cookwell lets you cook in it without a pan, but you can use a pan and it'll be more like a regular oven. Because of the design you can use it in place of a slow cooker but have the ability to get the temperature you want and not be constantly boiling your chili or soup. You can also crank the heat up and really roast something with a higher heat. And when things are ready you can turn it down to 140ð and keep it warm if people or the rest of dinner isn't quite ready. Why someone would buy a slow cooker is beyond me. I threw mine out. Try it. I'm sure you'll like it.