Alliums

The plants of the onion family are the only annuals in the garden which have survived the winter. Pictured below is the row of garlic. I planted two bulbs of garlic, producing about 16 plants. I dug up one last week to test the progress of the bulbing. the garlic was delicious, but had not matured. I plan to leave them about another month. 

The tall flowering plants are leeks, which are not really annuals since I left them in the garden from last year. I dug them up and placed them on top of the ground and left them. The flowers are about 5 foot above the ground. I plan to harvest seeds from them to plant in the fall. These leeks are growing out of the chives bed which was mostly transfered to another location. I will move the rest of the chives when I move these crazy leeks.

I planted bulb onions from seed last year to find out if they will grow larger than the onions planted from dried starts. In the first picture below are the onions planted from seed. they have been in the ground since October. The germination rate wasn't great, but they don't mind being transplanted. They are in one row surrounding the shallots. The leaves are much larger than the other onions. No bulb is visible above ground, and I haven't dug any up to peek. The white onions in the other picture are typical of all the onions planted from starts in January. The bulb is visible above the ground in all three types; red, white, and yellow. The red onions have matured more quickly, blooming already. I have been harvesting these to cook with the yellow squash.

The shallots pictured below were planted many months ago. They are delicious as green onions. I plan to let the tops turn brown, so they can be dried.

In order to conserve space in the garden, I plant the onions around the perimeter of the row. I leave the center to welcome the and protect the young tomatoes and cucumbers.