Peas Don't Mind Onions

The verdict is in.    Peas and onions tolerate each other just fine as companion plants.

If you've been following the tale of the accidental pea/onion companion planting, then you know that I decided to test whether the companion planting charts [see sidebar for links] were right about peas and onions not getting along.

I planted peas in four beds.  In one bed I planted the peas within a few inches of the row of onions.

They grew.   And grew.   And grew.  Those peas are the best, tallest and most prolific peas in the garden.

Not because I planted them so very close to the onions though!   This happened to be the bed where we had last dumped the contents of the chicken coop.   It was the fabulous soil that made the difference.   I believe the onions had no effect at all, one way or the other.

I'm thinking that maybe the 'Don't-plant-peas-with-onions' myth was started by someone who just had bad luck that year and made an assumption.   That assumption got put into print and then it took on a life of its own.   It happens.   

Which is why all claims about companion plants should be taken with a large grain of salt.   It's much more important to focus on good fertile soil than it is too worry about companion plants.   Once your soil is in good shape, then your plants will fight off a lot of diseases and pests on their own and you can start to think about other things to plant with them to help out.....like marigolds with squash to help drive off the multitudes of squash bugs we have here.  

Onions and Peas Planted Together

According to all of the companion plant charts that I've read, peas and onions absolutely should not be planted together.  

So I was bummed when I realized that I had planted a bunch of peas right next to where I had planted some onion starts.   Since half the peas were planted away from onions, I decided to leave them and see if onions and peas really don't get along.

The top pic is peas planted with onions. They're very happy. This pic is peas alone.  Poor sad things.  [Pics taken the very same day.]

Quite a difference.    I think it has nothing to do with the onions and plenty to do with the fact that I put lots of chicken dirt on that top bed.

We'll see about fruiting in a week or so, but so far, I think the taboo against planting peas and onions is bunk. 

Onion sets

Dude.  

Onion sets are cheap.

Cheap!

$1.50 for a bag of sets.    You can't beat that.  

Way better entertainment than a movie - and it'll keep the whole family busy.    

Way cheaper than a gym membership and gardening is better exercise anyway [at least at my house.   If you don't believe me, you're welcome to come help for a day and I'll prove it.]

We like the red and the yellow onions best.

I planted half of each of these bags plus the onions from the pantry that had sprouted.   I plant them all the way around the edges of the garden beds where they're easy to get at. 

The last half of each bag will go into the ground in the hoop house in September so we can have onions all winter long.

If you're going to plant just one vegetable this year, this is a good one to start with.   Really easy.

Onion Sets

Dude.

I got a nice big bag of onion sets for a dollar forty-nine.

$1.49.

One dollar.   And forty-nine cents.

Plus tax.

Seriously frugal.   Cheap, even. 

So, I got two bags.   A bag of red sets and a bag of yellow sets.

And a couple of weekends ago I planted them.

I like to plant them around the edges of the garden beds.   They're not really in the way and they're really handy to pull up whenever we need one.   

It makes me happy.

The yellow ones were a little bigger than the red ones, so I ran out of them faster.   I had just a hand full of red sets left.  

Maybe I'll put them in my big blue planter.    I think that's a splendid idea.  

Onion Seeds

I'm working on saving a few seeds this year.   Not an easy task here where the weather gets so humid. 

I can't tell you how many times I've 'dried' seeds, only to find them growing mold 3 months later.    Clearly, I'm not doing something right.   

The remedy is to practice, practice, practice.     This year I'm saving onion seeds.

I planted onions from sets in the Spring, and I got a lot of great onions.   One of them sent up a gorgeous flower and I enjoyed looking at it so much that I didn't cut it.    Later, I realized that I could let it go to seed and then save the seeds.  

Here's a close up of that gorgeous flower in July.

How perfect is that?!   

Now, it's matured and set seed.    I left it in the garden until it turned brown and the seed pods started opening on their own.   The seed is good and mature now, ready to start out on its own.

So, I cut it down and shook the seeds into a bowl.    In a week, I'll put them in an envelope, clip it closed and label it with variety and date. 

I've heard rumors that you can put seed in the freezer to keep it good and dry.    Does that really work?   It won't kill the seeds?   Please comment if you have some experience with freezing seeds!

I"ll likely plant these onion seeds in the cold frame this fall to let them grow all winter.  I hope that they're mature enough to use as sets in March or April.

Onions

I planted onions this year.   I got a bag of tiny bulbs from somewhere for cheap and stuck them in the ground inside my coldframe in March and then had so many left over that I stuck them all around the edges of the bed where I had the coldframe.    


I figured the ones inside the warm would shoot right up, but exactly the opposite happened.

The ones inside the coldframe stayed tiny and the ones outside shot right up and are big. 

Big and beautiful.  

You can see them all around the edge of this bed here. 

The big white flower ball is a bloom on one of the happiest ones. 



Onions are alliums.   So are chives.   Alliums all have that typical flower ball on a spike for a bloom.  

Here's a close-up.  The blooms usually last for a long time.   I've let this one stay.    I'm hoping it will set seed and then next year I'll plant it.

Or maybe I'll sow it in the coldframe this fall, let the seedlings do their thing over the winter, then transplant the babies outside in March.