Michele | March 9th, 2010
 Bulb Onions
Onions, one of the oldest vegetables, are found in a large number of recipes and preparations spreading almost the totality of the world’s cultures. They are part of the “Allium” Family, consisting of garlic, chives, leeks, shallots, and onions. They are available fresh, frozen, canned, caramelized, pickled, powdered, chopped, and dehydrated. Onions are bulbous plants having hollow leaves, that are cultivated worldwide for their rounded, highly aromatic, flavorful, edible bulbs.
 Onion Sets
There are many types of onions you can grow, but the most common is the “bulb” onion, sometimes called a storage onion. Grown from seeds, sets, or plants, bulb onions can range from sweet and mild (Vidalia, Walla Walla, Sweet Spanish), to pungent (Stuttgarter, Yellow Globe, Copra).
 Onion Plants "ready to plant"
If you plan to grow your onions by seed in Pennsylvania, you will need to start them indoors by late January in order for them to reach a decent size for outdoor planting. Or, you can buy onion sets, and onion plants either online, or at your local nursery, to plant straight in your garden. Onions do great in the cold so you can plant them outside as early as March here, depending on the weather that year. As soon as you can work the ground, go for it. Continue reading Onions – Time To Plant
Michele | February 18th, 2010
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It is February here in Pennsylvania – time to put up my indoor lighting system and start sowing all my extraordinary seed varieties. I start most of my Spring/Summer plants indoors 1 to 2 months before they will be planted in my garden. My house is not huge, so my access to sunlight is limited due to fewer south/west facing windows.
Last year, I simply bought cheap, $9.95 indoor grow lights and hung them on a rack! I paid dearly for this in the form of spindly, weak, slow growing plants that either died, became diseased, or just simply performed poorly! My seeds would germinate, but would then just not grow properly. I knew I had excellent, sterile soil, air movement, the right temperature, and the perfect amount of water. So why wouldn’t they grow?
The answer was I had insufficient LIGHTING. I cannot stress enough the importance of a proper relationship between your plants and their light source! So this year, I am experimenting with a new lighting system that I put together right in my own kitchen! You might know from my introduction that I like to make everything myself, not only to save money, but to ensure a quality product in the end. The research was a little challenging, but it turns out it was actually pretty simple to put this together.
Continue reading Indoor Lighting System
Troy | February 10th, 2010
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