In the Vegetable Garden – January 2020

  • January 29, 2020
  • Comments Off on In the Vegetable Garden – January 2020
A fresh stock of cool weather vegetables should be available at local nurseries later this month.

by Patty Leander
photos by Patty and Bruce Leander

Happy New Year, Gardeners! Under the dedicated leadership of Daphne Richards, JaNet Booher and the MG Board, 2020 promises to bring ample opportunities for learning, sharing, education, service, inspiration and more. A new year also means it’s time to get busy in the vegetable garden. So far winter has been, at least in my mind, tolerable, and hopefully January will bring us more mild, sunny days for planting, weeding and watering.

A harvest of nice sized onion bulbs in June starts with skinny transplants in January.

Onion transplants will start showing up at local nurseries later this month. Without a doubt these transplants come from Dixondale Farms in Carrizo Springs, Texas, a 100-year-old family business and principal onion supplier to growers across the United States. Early on Dixondale was strictly a wholesale distributor, but in the 1980s, Dr. Jerry Parsons, Extension Specialist in San Antonio, suggested to Dixondale that there was a valuable market for selling transplants to home gardeners, and fortunately today we can order transplants online direct from Dixondale, or purchase their transplants at retail nurseries.

You’ve undoubtedly heard of the famous 1015Y onion, but do you know the name of Dr. Leonard Pike? He was the Aggie researcher and vegetable breeder who is known for many vegetable introductions during his 40-year tenure at Texas A&M, including the beloved 1015Y onion (the 1015 refers to the recommended planting date for seed, October 15, and the Y indicates that it is a yellow-skinned onion). In 2010 Bruce and I were on the A&M campus and we wandered into a greenhouse brimming with blooming onions. Not the fried kind you order at a steakhouse, but rows of onions in full bloom and one lone man working the row, meticulously collecting seed from the blooms. Even though we didn’t belong in the greenhouse and he wasn’t expecting us, he greeted us with a smile and I recognized him right away, Dr. Leonard Pike. We introduced ourselves, and after a few questions and a brief tour I asked if we could take some pictures, which I am sharing with you in this newsletter. I left the greenhouse that day feeling honored to have met him, captivated by his lifelong dedication to breeding efforts, and thankful for his contributions to Texas agriculture. Dr. Pike passed away last January, leaving a valuable legacy of accomplishments.

To learn more, I encourage you to click over to this article on AgriLife today:
https://agrilifetoday.tamu.edu/2019/01/13/vegetable-industry-mourns-loss-of-1015-supersweet-onion-pioneer/

The late Dr. Leonard Pike, onion breeder, works among his onion plants at the Texas A&M campus. Thanks in part to his breeding efforts the Texas sweet onion was designated the official state vegetable of Texas in 1997.
The late Dr. Leonard Pike, onion breeder, works among his onion plants at the Texas A&M campus. Thanks in part to his breeding efforts the Texas sweet onion was designated the official state vegetable of Texas in 1997.

Here is the vegetable gardener’s checklist for January:

  • Take advantage of warm, sunny days to tidy up your garden and work areas, clean and sharpen tools and inventory garden supplies.
  • Inspect hoses and irrigation lines and replace or repair as needed.
  • Perform a soil test and follow fertilizer recommendations.
  • Prepare beds for spring planting. Remove weeds and rocks, loosen soil and distribute about an inch of compost evenly over the surface. Add fertilizer if needed and blend lightly into the soil.
  • Cut down and turn under cover crops this month; they will gradually decompose and enrich the soil for spring planting.
  • Order or purchase onion transplants and set them out the last two weeks of January. Recommended varieties include ‘Texas Legend,’ ‘Texas Early White,’ ‘1015Y Texas Super Sweet,’ ‘Yellow Granex’ and ‘Southern Belle Red.’ These are short-day onions that bulb in response to our lengthening days in spring. ‘Candy’ and ‘Super star’ are popular, intermediate-day varieties that also do well here.
  • Seeds of turnips, radishes, carrots, arugula, beets, kohlrabi and peas can be planted directly in the garden later this month, though cool soils mean slower germination and growth. Thin to the proper spacing (as noted on the seed packet) soon after they germinate, and water as needed to keep soil moist.
  • Plant transplants of broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, Swiss chard, collards, lettuce, spinach, Asian greens and artichokes.
  • Cut back yellowed asparagus foliage before the first spears emerge in spring.
  • Decide when you want to plant tomatoes, and count back 7 or 8 weeks. This is when you should plant tomato seeds if you want to grow your own transplants. I usually start my seeds the first week of January, bump them up to a slightly larger container after they produce their first set of true leaves and plant them in the garden in early to mid-March, with protection from wind and cold.
  • Pay attention to the vigor, taste and hardiness of the vegetable varieties you grow and make a note of your favorites. Save seed from the healthiest, most vigorous specimens for planting next year.

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