Thomas Fryd
Different Varieties And Uses Of Onions
Have you ever come home from work dog-tired on a cool evening and smelled fried potatoes and onions? In my book, they belong alongside freshly baked bread as a “welcome-homer.”
If you, too, are a confirmed onion eater, no matter what anyone says then you might like to know what varieties are best suited to the many. different uses of onion.
There are hundreds of varieties of onions, but we seldom use more than four or five.
Here are some facts that will help you “know your onions.”
“Bunch” onions are those which are used green. They may be used in salads and relishes.
There are many varieties of the “dry” onion type. Any of these can also be used green. Some are better winter keepers than others.
Some are excellent keepers and good for general use.
A small, mild variety is good for creaming and for glace onions. They are best when used before fully mature.
Spanish onions are a good all-around variety but cannot be kept too long. They are good fried or creamed.
Of course, if you are a real, honest-to-goodness onion eater, you’ll want to grow a few red ones. Now, there’s a real onion!
Leeks are a less-known member of the onion family. They are used mainly in Vichyssoise and are sometimes used in a casserole with a cheese sauce. Leeks may be stored like celery.
We should not fail to mention our old friends, the chives. There are few garden plants as adaptable and useful as chives. If your family doe knot care for an overpowering onion flavor, chives are for you. A very few seeds will give you all you can use for years plus a share for all your friends. An occasional trimming with the power mower will keep young, fresh, new tops at their flavorful best.
In the fall, you can bring a small clump into the house for your kitchen window. They will provide plenty for the winter.
Chives are excellent in potato salad and cottage cheese if added just before serving.
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Where To Place Your Plants Correctly
The drip line of your roof is an important factor in locating foundation plants even in regions which do not get much or any snow and ice. Falling rain should reach the plants, so, except in unusual cases, they should be placed at least a foot beyond the drip line. At first they may look as though they were sitting out there by themselves, but in time, as the branches spread and the plants get larger, they will gradually reach back to the house and occupy all the space provided for them.
Plants under Eaves
When under unusual circumstances, you have to place plants under the broad eaves of a mod em type house, it is perfectly all right to do so if you make sure of a constant and sufficient supply of water for them. Do not wait until the soil is bone dry before applying water; set up a regular schedule of watering (adjusted to the weather, of course) so that the plants will never be in danger of injury from drought.
Mulch
If you do not choose to maintain a ground cover under the plants, the next best thing is a layer of mulch which will keep the soil cooler in hot months and keep a supply of moisture in the ground over a longer period. This practice is absolutely essential to success in regions where several months of hot, dry weather are the rule.
The temptation to grow flowers in the midst of the foundation planting is widespread. My own view is that theoretically and ideally there should be no flowers in the public area, including the foundation planting. However, the desire for flowers is so strong that it is next to impossible to convince the average home owner that he should not have some annuals or perennials in his front yard.
If you feel that you must do that, one permissible way to do it.
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Rooting Plants Simplified – Layering
Layering is a safe, sure, simple way to increase many types of plants, and particularly the climbers and danglers with which this book is concerned. The first requirement is that the plant have long, lax or drooping stems – which vining plants do. The rest is easy, because the stem is not severed from the parent until the new plant is well rooted and can survive on its own. Humidifying devices, bottom heat, and close protection are seldom called for.
Garden plants layer readily, sometimes even spontaneously. And layering is equally easy for indoor or greenhouse vines. A wandering stem or runner is simply pinned down on the soil in a nearby pot, and severed when it is securely rooted.
Ground layering in the garden takes place at the base of the parent plant. Loosen and lighten a small section of soil, and mix in some peat or other humus to help hold moisture. Select a firm, semiwoody stem, and open the thick skin in one of several ways to speed up rooting. The stem can be nicked underneath with a sharp knife, or split and held open by a small piece of toothpick or match, or simply twisted just enough to break the outside skin and separate a few of the inside tissues. Some plants insist on rooting at or near a node, others don’t care where. And some softer stems don’t even need to be nicked.
Now, bend down the long branch and bury the portion to be rooted in the prepared soil, leaving the tip section of the branch sticking up. Anchor it with a stone, clothespin, or crossed sticks. When the buried stem is well rooted, cut the old branch between new and parent plant, and transplant or pot the offspring.
Simple ground-layering can be modified or embroidered so that more than one plant is produced from each operation. In serpentine layering the stems are covered with soil at intervals, with sections of the stem looping up in the air between. Multiple, or continuous, layering works on plants and vines that root readily all along the stem or branch. The entire stem is buried, except for the tip, and new plants that come up at intervals are cut apart and transplanted.
Air layering is a procedure for thick, upright, canelike stems. The stem is nicked or opened near a node or not, depending on the plant; and that section of the stem is enclosed in a ball of moist sphagnum moss. This is held in place by a firm bandage of polyethylene, a plastic that permits passage of air but holds in moisture, tied to the stem at each end of the ball with soft cord. Check occasionally to make sure the sphagnum has not dried out. When you see roots inside the plastic, cut off the stem just below that point and pot up the new plant, its root ball intact in the moss.
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