When can you harvest your onions

Happy September everyone!

This month we have two great questions “When are my onions ready to harvest?” and “What house plants are good for low light?”

You can harvest your onions and eat them at any time. If you want to store the onions for later use, you should wait until the onion leaves bend to about 90 degrees, which typically happens around 90 days after planting. Once the leaves have fallen, wait for 5-8 days before harvesting, drying, and curing the onions. Choose a day for harvesting when there won’t be rain for a day or two. To dry the onions, you can either hang them roots-up or lay them flat on a dry surface with good airflow, such as on a wire mesh, and keep them in the shade. It should take about two to three weeks for the onions to dry sufficiently. Once they are dry, cut off the roots and the no longer green leaves, and they will be ready to store for the winter. When the neck is completely dry, the onion is ready for storage. If you space out or thin the bulbs as they grow, they will be larger. If the bulbs are too close, they will be smaller. Onions thrive in fertile soil with good drainage.

I’d like to share my top five favorite houseplants that excel in low light:

1. Zamioculcas Zamiifolia (ZZ Plant) This plant is great because it has attractive glossy foliage and is easy to care for. It comes in many colors such as black, green, and variegated leaves.
2. Chlorophytum comosum (Spider Plant) The Spider Plant is easy to grow as a houseplant due to its resilience, but it can be sensitive to the fluoride in tap water, which commonly gives it “burnt tips”.
3. Sansevieria trifasciata (Snake Plant) I love its non- demanding maintenance; they can survive with very little water and sun. This year, I saw it flower for the first time in person.
4. Clivia This is a more rare plant that flowers orange. It has beautiful long strap-shaped leaves that are evergreen.
5. Epipremnum aureum (Golden Pothos) I love its long vine growth habit. It’s important to note that any plant in a windowless room will not survive. While quite a few plants can handle neglect and low light conditions, any room that gets no light at all will always kill off the plants in it eventually. Adding a light with a timer is always great for the winter months when it gets dark at 4 pm.

If you have any gardening questions, send them to me at in**@th*******.ca with the subject line “Ask Anna,” and I’ll answer them in next month’s Seeker