February 7, 2011

A Sign of Spring: Onion Seedlings



There is something new and green growing in my house. Tiny seedlings of onions and leeks are poking their folded threads above the soil, which then unfurl and delicately nod tiny black seeds.




I start them early in the season planted thickly in 8 inch pots, kept moist until germination by the improvised greenhouse of a plastic bag.




And here they will grow, under the lights of a plant stand, later to be joined by parsley, then vegetables such as peppers and eggplant, tomatoes and brassicas, melons and squashes. In the deep of winter, spring is announcing its promise.

3 comments:

  1. Hi!
    It was nice to open up the e-mail and see green! Being under a couple feet of snow here in Michigan and only seed catalogs to ponder through that was nice to see the little seedlings. When do you set your plants outside? May?
    Rebecca

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  2. We have at least a couple of feet of snow here in Vermont, too, RJ. It is so cheering to have the seedlings coming up. I usually set onions and leeks outdoors in early May, since they're quite hardy. With all this snow, it might take a while for the ground to dry out enough in spring for early planting.

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  3. makes me inspired to order up some seeds, myself.

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