Those Naughty Onions

I've been crowing for a couple of weeks now about how good my onions look and I should have known better.  I jinxed myself, I think.  Because look what I just found in the garden.

See that little bulb on the end of the stem in the center of the picture?  That's a soon-to-be onion flower.  Some of the onions have bolted because of the crazy weather we've been having.  I knew this was bad but, since this is my first time growing onions, I had to do some research on what to do about it.  I mean, do you just snip the bud off and let them continue?  Do you harvest them?  What gives?

Well, it IS bad news. Onions flower during their second year and temperature fluctuations can cause them to do this.  Once they start, you can't do anything about it except harvest them.  And they probably won't store for very long.  I pulled the three that had the buds on them and here's what I found.

Absolutely nothing.  While these are still good to eat (both the white and green parts), there's no huge bulb on the end.  Aaaarrggghhh!  I thought I had done everything perfectly - side dressed them, good dirt, etc.  I really hope it was the weather.  Any ideas?  I guess I'll have to plant some more and see how that goes over the summer - they take about 8 to 10 weeks, so I could be harvesting again in June or July.

On a good note, though, I just pulled (and J. ate) our first strawberry grown here at Cranky Puppy Farm.  He reported with a grin that it was very tasty and sweet.  So at least I can grow s-o-m-e-t-h-i-n-g.  It is rather cute, isn't it?

Toodaloo 'til next time,

Linked to: Garden Life, Farm Girl Friday, and Ole' Saturday Homesteading Trading Post and Monday Barn Hop hops.