Here is the Soil Mix I used in my Raised Bed Onion Box.
I am not guaranteeing that it is Perfect and you will raise the finest onions in the world. There are just too many variables - and you may want to make changes. You may decide to use a Commercial (Chemical?) Fertilizer for example instead of the Composted Cow Manure I have been buying and using for the last few years. I get this in a bag at True Value so I guess It's Commercial too!
Or, you might substitute Horse Manure - or add Epson Salts (Magnesium Sulfate) to the soil. Tomatoes, Peppers and Onions love it and Need it and its usually found in good soil. You may want to use your own Garden Compost in place of the Cotton Boll that I use in my soil mix. I really like Bocca Brand Top Soil that I get from Dutches Green House. I feel like it is of good composition and I won't get a bag of half clay.
I got about 15 bags of really cheap stuff when I first started serious gardening from a Prominent Big Box Store that shall go unnamed. The next year I scraped up this "dirt" and used it to fill holes and truck ruts in the back alley. The Trash man was forever grateful... But I digress...
"My Onion Soil Mix Recipe"
2 Parts Construction Sand (Course Sand, not fine Children's Sand)
10 Parts "Bocca" brand Top Soil (At Most Plant Nurseries
5 Parts Cotton Boll (Most Plant Nurseries)
3 Parts Composted Cow Manure (True Value Hardware)
How to Mix: Always go around the outside in a circle around your unmixed pile. Shovel into the Center of the pile and turn the shovel over. Keep this up going in a circle around the pile. Use this method wether you are mixing soil, cement or bread dough. It works best.
Always go in a Clock-Wise direction. If you go Counter-Clockwise, you will just Unmix the Mix your Mixing. Pretty soon you have nothing but a wispy Molecular Vapor going out into space. And you will just have to go out and buy more stuff. [Just a little joke folks.]
APPENDUM
Just 30 Days Later
It's been almost exactly 30 days - a Month - since I set up the Raised Bed Onion Box and planted about 150 bulbs in it. This is how it looked today. I added about an inch of screened garden compost to the top just about 3 days ago to not only give the onions nourishment, but to help keep the soil moist as we move into summer. I will begin a regular regime of adding a diluted mix of Manure Tea about every 2 weeks as well as digging in a little bone meal and Manganese Sulfate - Epson Salts. This will continue until the tops start falling over and the watering and fertilizer will be cut back to prepare the onions for harvesting.
So there you are. If you wish to contact me you may do so at
RobertLee97@Gmail.com.
May you have a Great Garden this Year!
GrandBob
PS:
If you would like to make a comment, I would love to hear from you about gardening. Unfortunately, the comment section doesn't seem to be working well and people have to jump through hoops to make a comment. I can't seem to fix it so I will probably remove it in the near future. Just send an e-mail to the address above. The Wicked Witch of the West (who lives in Western Kansas), will be monitoring all comments before publication.
Note: The largest Onion bulb I got out of the Batch was 3 inches in diameter. The average was about 2 - 1/2 inches. I harvested over 130 usable onions in the 3X3 Foot Square plot. The soil mix test turned out very successful I believe.
Note: The largest Onion bulb I got out of the Batch was 3 inches in diameter. The average was about 2 - 1/2 inches. I harvested over 130 usable onions in the 3X3 Foot Square plot. The soil mix test turned out very successful I believe.
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