Time to plant onions and potatoes

It's that time of year again - well, one of them - time to plant onions and potatoes. I've had mixed results finding ones to plant over the last year or so. Last spring was the first time I had planted either. I happened to find onion sets at Lowes, but I had to go to a "feed and seed" for potatoes. The first place I called was 17-A Feed and Seed in Summerville. They normally had onions, but they hadn't gotten their supply yet, so I bought five pounds each of red and white potaotoes. I think five pounds works out to about 20-30 potatoes.

I was fairly happy with the outcome of my first time growing onions and potatoes. The onions didn't get as big as I had hoped and we harvested a lot of our potatoes as "new" potatoes, instead of waiting for them to mature. Also, let me stress the importance of hilling - mounding the soil around the potato plant once it starts growing. Some potatoes will form near the surface, actually coming out of the ground - and you don't want that. The potato will turn green and that's bad. This sounds crazy, but the potato is one of those plants that everything is poisonous except the fruit. So, we lost some potatoes to that and then the rain came. We had so much rain, flooding the garden. The remaining potatoes rotted. It didn't help that I was planting in the ground and our soil was largely clay. I've got raised beds this time, so I'm hoping for a much better crop this spring.

Last fall I planted another crop of onions, hoping to do better this time. Lowes didn't have any so I called 17-A Feed and Seed again. They didn't have any so I called Dorchester Feed and Supply. I figured they were the next closest place. They said they had some onions, but were running out. This surprised me, because it was barely time to plant - everyone must have gotten theirs early - so I went out in a hurry to buy onions. They sold white and yellow onion sets by the half pound and by the pound. I thought a half pound wouldn't be enough so I bought a pound of each. It turned out a pound probably was a couple of hundred onions - at Lowes I only got about sixty. I had so many that I was planting them everywhere I could and still had enough to give a hundred or more to a few neighbors. After buying those, I noticed Royall Ace Hardware in Mount Pleasant had the same ones as Lowes had last time.

It made sense to me that you could plant potatoes in the fall just like onions. I found a small amount of information on it, mostly planting dates for South Carolina, but no one I talked to had ever planted potatoes in the fall. They encouraged me to do it and let them know how it well it went. I didn't do it this past fall, but I plan to try this year. I think it's not more widely done, because certified seed potatoes aren't readily available that time of year. I found in a gardening catalog the other day, seed potato "eyes" for about what I would pay for potatoes in the spring. That's probably a good deal, because most prices on potatoes in catalogs probably run about $20 for the same amount you can buy at the feed and seed for $5 - the catalog does give you a larger variety. Hopefully the "eyes" will be available in the summer/fall. If not, I'll have to experiment with store-bought potatoes.It made sense to me that you could plant potatoes in the fall just like onions. I found a small amount of information on it, mostly planting dates for South Carolina, but no one I talked to had ever planted potatoes in the fall. They encouraged me to do it and let them know how it well it went. I didn't do it this past fall, but I plan to try this year. I think it's not more widely done, because certified seed potatoes aren't readily available that time of year. I found in a gardening catalog the other day, seed potato "eyes" for about what I would pay for potatoes in the spring. That's probably a good deal, because most prices on potatoes in catalogues probably run about $20 for the same amount you can buy at the feed and seed for $5 - the catalog does give you a larger variety. Hopefully the "eyes" will be available in the summer/fall. If not, I'll have to experiment with store-bought potatoes.

This spring I called both of the places I bought from in the past and they didn't have any, so I called a third place - Red Top Feed and Tackle Shop - and they had onions and potatoes this year. I went out there and got a pound each of red and yellow onions (I think - maybe white) and five pounds each of white, red and Yukon gold potaotes. That's my reason for constructing more raised beds - I have too much to plant.

PS - I had sort of a rambling about growing onions, which I'll save for a later post.