How about digging up your onions? When will that be a good time?

image from gardenerspath.com 

     ​     It is getting dark in the northern sky.  Wind picking up, clouds moving quickly.  Looks like rain coming quickly with this cool front approaching.  All of this at 8:00 AM. Hopefully all of us will get the much-needed rain, and no storms.  But later today with the heat of the day there might be storms but looks like south of us.  Stay safe.  Looking forward to less heat, and humidity coming tomorrow and next week.  I need to do some work outside.  We will be attending the Geneva Flea Market in Sept. so need to get things ready for that.  Never been there, and now going to take wagons of things to it.  Sept 10, 11th.  I will spend my birthday Sept 11th there. 
     I was told that posting about harvesting potatoes was a good blog.  With that in mind, I will continue with harvesting onions and storage.  Again hope the new gardeners this year have had success with their gardens, and will continue to do it next year. 
HARVEST/STORAGE
HOW TO HARVEST ONIONS
Pull any onions that send up flower stalks; this means that the onions have stopped growing. These onions will not store well but can be used in recipes within a few days.
When onions start to mature, the tops (foliage) become yellow and begin to fall over. At that point, bend the tops down or even stomp on them to speed the final ripening process.
Loosen the soil around the bulbs to encourage drying.
When tops are brown, pull the onions.
Be sure to harvest in late summer, before cool weather. Mature onions may spoil in fall weather.
HOW TO STORE ONIONS
Clip the roots and cut the tops back to 1 inch (but leave the tops on if you are planning to braid the onions).
Let the onions cure on dry ground for a few days, weather permitting. Always handle them very carefully—the slightest bruise will encourage rot to set in.
Allow onions to dry for several weeks before you store them in a root cellar or any other storage area. Spread them out on an open screen off the ground to dry.
Store at 40 to 50°F (4 to 10°C) in braids or with the stems removed in a mesh bag or nylon stocking.
Mature, dry-skinned bulbs like it cool and dry.
Don’t store onions with apples or pears, as the ethylene gas produced by the fruits will interrupt the onions’ dormancy. Onions may also spoil the flavor of these fruits (as well as potatoes).
A pungent onion will store longer than a sweet onion. Eat the sweet varieties first and save the more pungent onions for later.
WIT & WISDOM
Practice crop rotation with onions. Learn more about crop rotation.
To make onions taste milder, soak them in milk or pour boiling water over the slices and let stand for 20 minutes. Rinse with cold water.
In the Middle Ages, it was believed that onion juice could cure baldness, snakebite, and headaches.
A generation or two ago, children were treated with a poultice of mashed onions applied as a paste to cover a wound.
A whole onion eaten at bedtime was prescribed to break a cold by morning, and sliced onions were placed on the soles of the feet to draw out fever.
Early settlers made a cough syrup by steeping raw onion slices in honey overnight.
A raw onion rubbed on a bee sting or insect bite will relieve the pain and itching.
Onion’s skin very thin,
Mild winter coming in;
Onion’s skin thick and tough,
Coming winter cold and rough.
Taken from https://www.almanac.com/plant/onions
Till next time this is Becky Litterer, Becky’s Greenhouse, Dougherty Iowa beckmall@netins.net 641-794-3337 cell 964-903-9365