The Urban Farmer’s Almanac

It’s still technically winter, but the cherry blossoms have blossomed and it feels like an early spring. We have started some seeds inside, and some of the plants that were dormant are emerging from colder months. In order, below are photos of Swiss Chard and Pea starts inside, garlic coming up (planted in late December), rhubarb, and the new Egyptian Walking Onions.

A friendly fellow gardener named Maya posted some extra onion starts she had on the good old Seattle Urban Farm Co-op listserv, and I was intrigued by the name: Egyptian Walking Onions. They are a pretty interesting plant:

“Egyptian Walking Onions are very unusual, heirloom onions. They are top-setters, which means that they produce onion seeds from the flowering green tops of the onion. They are called walking onions because the top-setters fall over and re-root themselves; literally ‘walking’.”

Apparently they are great to use like green onions when they’re small, and they also grow nice shallot-like bulbs. In addition to taking a walk around the garden. I’ll post some photos when I plant them.