The Early Bird Catches The Walla Wallas

It seems to me that the seed catalogs are coming earlier than they did last year.  I have other things to do now and am not yet ready to sit down and pour over the seed catalogs.  The first few got cast aside to look at later.  After all it's only the 2nd of December.  Usually I start to think about the next gardening season in January.  However when the Dixondale Farms onion catalog arrived, I sat right down to check it out.  "Walla wallas are very limited supply, order early.  First come, first served." fairly jumped off the page at me.  I also noted this might be the last year for Mars.  The seed company will no longer produce this hybrid and will not give up the proprietary information.  Last year we ordered our onions on Jan.8.  It was our first order for the 2009 garden season.

I went downstairs to check our supply of onions.  My plan was to label all the onions so would know which ones kept the best.  The Copras always do well.  The red onions are doing well also, but one of the really great looking braids is marked Red Zepplin.  A partial braid is tagged Mars, but the best looking braid has no tag.  So much for my perfect system.

But information from the catalog helped me make my decision.  After careful consideration I eliminated Mars.  If I love them and then can't get them any more I might be unhappy.  I decided to skip that angst, and order Ringmasters, Copras and Walla Wallas.  A new for 2010 variety, Red Marble Cippolini, caught my eye.  They are dark red, flat, and the red color goes deep into the rings.  I can see those beautiful onion slices now.  I made the call today, more than a month ahead of last year.  What can I say. I want my Walla Wallas.

The weather seems to have normalized somewhat.  It's sunny but chilly today, just warm enough for Ed to take the mower deck off the tractor and replace it with the snow plow.  Now when the snow comes, he will be ready.  I know the garden is ready for a nice blanket of snow, and I guess we are too.