Garden Log

Continuing with the garden catalogs, today we look at onions.

Yellow Onions

• Candy* 85 days to harvest. Sweet, moderately pungent, short storage, day-neutral yellow. A hybrid day length neutral yellow cooking onion that can be spring seeded in all areas of the U.S. It is less pungent than other cooking types and will store well if properly cured.
• Prince* 105 days to harvest. Fusarium wilt resistant. Long storage, high yields. Big onions for long storage. A beautiful, big onion, among the most widely grown varieties in the North. The large, blocky, globe-shaped bulbs are uniform with vigorous tops that finish off to a thin, well-dried neck. Yellow skins have a distinct satiny sheen and adhere well in storage. From the same talented breeder as our enormously popular Copra, Prince is larger and stores nearly, but not quite, as well.
• Copra* 107 days to harvest. Fusarium wilt resistant. Pink root rot resistant. Agway Seedway Uniform round, high yields, pungent. Uniform, “rock-hard” storage onion with early maturity. These medium-sized, dark yellow-skinned storage onions have the preferred blocky round shape with thin necks that dry quickly. Firmness and skin are superior. Unrivaled in our yearly storage trials, remaining firm and sound after other varieties have sprouted. Highest in sugar (13°-14°) of the storage onions.
• Ailsa Craig or Kelsae 110 days to harvest. Moderately sweet. This popular English heirloom onion is renowned for producing exhibition-size 2 lb. globe-shaped onions even in areas with shorter, cooler growing seasons. The huge bulbs have straw yellow skin and sweet, firm white flesh. A long-day sweet Spanish type that stores quite well.
• Walla Walla Sweet 125 days to harvest. Truly sweet; seed or plant as early as possible. Big flattened bulbs with mild, sweet flesh. The only truly sweet and mild onion for long summer days in the northern two-thirds of the country. Brought to Washington state from Corsica around the turn of the century. Yellow skin; white, juicy flesh. Not a winter keeper.

Red Onions

• Mars* 110 days to harvest. Bright red throughout; large bulbs, high yields. Early and big. An outstanding variety that matures early and makes nice, big, round red onions. Good purple-red skin color, and well-colored interior.

White Onions

• Super Star* 100 days to harvest. Pink root rot resistant. White skin and flesh, sweet to moderately pungent; not for storage. This first hybrid onion ever to win an AAS award, Super Star will wow you! The jumbo white globes can reach over a pound apiece, and are simply crammed with thick, mild-sweet rings. Good skin retention means better storage capability, and great resistance to pink root ensures healthier plants! But the real secret of Super Star’s performance is that it’s neither a long- nor a short-day type. Instead, it’s a “mid-day” or day-neutral variety, which means that it can be grown almost anywhere in the contiguous U.S., from the far north to the deep south. And Super Star not only grows, it flourishes! Earlier, larger, and more flavorful than most long- or short-day types, it is out-of-this-world delicious!

Bunching Onions

• Long White Summer Bunching 60 days to harvest. Fusarium wilt resistant. Pink root rot resistant. Mild, for scallions, can be overwintered. An improved White Spear or Nebuka type. White shafts are 5 to 7 inches long, full, upright, dark green, non bulbing. An elite scallion.
• Deep Purple 60 days to harvest. Deep red stems. The only red buncher that is highly colored at any temperature or age. Spring or summer sowing.
• Feast 68 days to harvest. Early blight or alternaria leaf spot resistant. An improved Tokyo Long White type with tolerance to Downy Mildew and Alternaria Leaf Spot. A single stalk type, upright plant habit 16- to 20-inch long white shafts, dark green leaves. Not winter hardy.