Onion sets can be planted from November through April on the Peninsula, but seed is sown only in early spring. Dry onions are usually grown from seed. Most varieties will reach maturity in around 100 days. Most beginning vegetable gardeners do not realize that they can start their onions from seed and when the young plants are a little smaller than a pencil in size they can be transplanted if they will cut the tops back about one half and slightly trim the roots. This makes it possible to start the seed in a relatively small area, then for dry onions, transplant the seedlings to areas in front of their roses or other flowering plants where the growing onions will keep most of the aphids away.
For large onions, the soil must never be allowed to run out. Like most vegetables onions, must be kept growing steadily with never a check. Dry onions are harvested after the tops have ripened. The stems are not permitted to go to sow. At the first sign of flowering the stems are broken and crushed. When the stems are dry, loosen the soil around a few of the bulbs and check to see if the outer skin has dried. It is very crucial that you do not harvest the bulbs prior the external bark gets dry as the dried bark is the indication that the bulbs have matured. Unripened onions hurt easy and keep poorly.
After the bulbs are dug they should be allowed to be on peak of the soil to heal and dry since a lot of days before they are cleaned up and boxed for storing. Everyone who has visited Italy returns to tell about the strings of braided garlic they see on kitchen walls or hanging near doorways. Americans do not use as much garlic as the Italians do but many have come to value the increased flavor that garlic, in small amounts, adds to some foods.
Garlic is very easy to grow, and grown among the roses, it too, will help to keep the aphids away. One clove of garlic separated into, its separate sections or “cloves” will take care of the seasoning needs of the average family for the full winter season. Plant the cloves in well prepared soil just as you would onion sets. Water and fertilize them as you would onions sets. It takes about 90 days for the individual cloves to make a good sized garlic bulb. Shallots are planted like garlic.
Leeks are a really fine food for winter months. These look like giant green onions and they can be sliced and fried in butter or sliced thicker and boiled for either a vegetable or soup. Leeks are a bit slow to start so most gardeners start the seed in flats and transplant them when they get about four inches tall. Keep soil around leeks moist and cultivate it so it piles up around the plants to blanch the lower section white. Some gardeners use waterproof paper collars about three inches high around the plants. Leeks mature in about 100 days from seed.
http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/cropsystems/DC7060.html
