Vegetables

When are Onions Ready

When are onions ready to pull and store? Rule of thumb is when 2/3 of the tops have fallen over. You can bend over the rest of the crop. Also, stop watering. Leave the onions in the ground for a couple of weeks.

Maturing onions

Pull or dig the onions out of the ground not removing the tops. Do not clean the bulbs. Take the onions into a shady spot like a garage or under a tree without crowding them. I place the onions on an old window screen sitting on blocks so the underneath has air circulation. Leave until the leaves are brown and brittle.

Now you can remove the tops and roots but leave the dry skins alone. Store in a dark, dry, and airy area. Use milk crates, burlap sacks, or mesh bags. How long they will store depends mainly on the variety. “Sweet onions” do not last very long. The variety I plant is “Copra” which lasts an easy 6 months.

The onions I planted were ground for seed started 10 weeks before transplanting outside. I found the onions growing from seeds do not send up flower stalks like the onions planted from sets.

Garden Pests

Blossom End Rot in Tomatoes

Blossom end rot in tomatoes shows up a browning or blackening areas on the bottom of the fruit. It is more common than not on the first ripening tomatoes. Pepper and eggplant also get this condition, but to a lesser extent.

Blossom end rot in tomatoes
Blossom end rot in tomatoes

Often end rot is blamed on lack of calcium in the soil, however, it is very usual for our soils to be lacking in calcium. What happens is during rapid growth early in the first fruit stage plants are able to take up enough soil calcium.

The cause is mainly environmental due to uneven water in the soil, fertilizing too early in tomato growth, or wide soil temperature variations.

Solutions, apply a mulch to keep the soil moisture and temperature even. Make sure the soil drains by adding organic material or sand in clay soils. Early varieties are more susceptible than later varieties. Adding liquid soluble calcium at a certain time may help the plant to absorb more calcium and certainly will not hurt to add eggshells or Epsom salts, DO NOT add limestone to our alkaline soils. The calcium buildup will increase the pH of the soil, especially in clay soils.

Garden Pests

Leaf Miner Injury

This week I am hearing about leaf miner injury in various plants. You look at the leaf and see tunnels winding around between the tissues of the leaf. I have not seen heavy infestations that skeletonize the plant, however, they are unsightly.

Leaf miner injury on swiss chard
Leaf miner injury on swiss chard


Caused by a little black fly laying eggs on the leaf. The eggs hatch and the little larva burrow into the tissues of the leaf. The type of leaf miner is specific to the plant (they do not cross to other plants).


I have seen them on hollyhock, beets, bean, tomatoes, and columbines this year. Certain species also attack cottonwood, birch, pine trees, vine crops, peppers, and eggplant.

Leaf miner injury on columbines
Leaf miner injury on columbines


Since the larva is in the leaf, control is hard. For flowers (non-eatables) you can use a systemic insecticide. For the garden, it is best to pick off the damaged leaves and dispose of them. A newer way is to use neem oil which reduces the number of larva becoming adults.