EGYPTIAN WALKING ONIONS, & ARUGULA SPROUTS

I was fairly convinced my Egyptian Walking Onions were dead, since I'd left them out on my covered deck all winter - where they received not a drop of any sort of moisture from the sky. Nor did I hand-water any of my little pots of perennials over all those months. Just didn't think about it. The previous couple of winters I didn't have to think about it, since the pots sat out in the open on my staircase.


Here they are, all repotted, on April 14, 2008.

Despite all that, I removed the clump from its pot, and removed the old dirt - except for what was closely around the roots. Then I added a good amount of compost (probably a third to a half a pot's worth) along with some peat and some vermiculite back into the pot and placed the onion clump back in. The new soil amounted to probably three-fourths of the total soil in the pot. The pot is 12 inches in diameter and 10 inches tall.

I also rigged up a string wick in the pot before I added the soil, so it will be self-watering. And lo and behold, I have green shoots. What a delightful surprise.


12 days later, on Saturday, April 26, 2008

All I've ever done, in terms of harvesting is just snip off the green parts to use in my summer salads, like green onions, as was suggested to me by the person who gave them to me.

Below is a photo of what they looked like, full grown, in the spring of 2006. Those little white tips are what, in the fall, eventually swell up in a little package of a half-dozen pea-sized bulbs (large peas). Can't believe I don't have a photo - but I'll be sure to get one this coming fall.



I've also tried to revive my two pots of chives -- one regular, one garlic chives. But so far, I'm not seeing any green.

The arugula seeds I planted on April 14th sprouted (below) within just 3 or 4 days.

April 26th, 2008