There is a particular silence that settles over the Saginaw River in February. It is not the empty silence of absence, but the heavy, pregnant silence of waiting. The freighters are gone, resting in their winter berths, their steel hulls cold against the ice. The river itself moves sluggishly, a dark ribbon under the gray sky, biding its time.
Here at the farm, the stillness is deceptive. To the casual eye, the garden is asleep. But inside, the season has already turned.
This week, we broke the silence. We started the onions.
If you look at our setup under the basement grow lights, you might think we’ve made a mistake. You’ll see small, 4×4 inch containers packed with an impossible number of seeds—dozens, maybe fifty or sixty in a single pot. It looks crowded. It looks like chaos waiting to happen.
But there is a science to this density, and it’s the secret to managing a large harvest in a small indoor footprint.
Onions, like all members of the allium family, possess a unique root morphology. Unlike tomatoes or peppers, whose roots branch aggressively and weave into complex, inseparable knots, onion roots grow long, smooth, and fibrous. They don’t fuse. They don’t tangle. They are polite neighbors.
This biological quirk allows us to “multi-sow.” We can grow 50 to 100 seedlings in a single 4-inch square, creating a dense carpet of green thread that sips light and water efficiently. We save precious shelf space when the grow lights are at a premium.
Come spring, when the soil thaws and the river opens up, we’ll take that dense block of soil and gently tease the seedlings apart. Because of that smooth root structure, they slip free from one another with barely a protest—no tearing, no shock. One 4×4 block explodes into fifty individual plants, ready for the row.
It is a small miracle of efficiency in the dead of winter. While the wind howls off the bay, we are manufacturing abundance in a basement corner.
This is the hardest part of the season: the knowing that spring is inevitable, but not yet here. But at least now, we have the onions. We are the restless gardeners, pacing the floorboards, waiting for the signal.
Spring doesn’t ask for permission. It just comes. And thanks to these crowded little pots, we’ll be ready.
Browse this week’s seeds (coming soon): https://freighterviewfarms.com/seed-shop-coming-soon/
Next read
For variety recommendations, see The Best Heirloom Tomatoes for Michigan.
For more on saving seeds from your own garden, see the Complete Guide to Seed Saving.
— Chris Izworski, Freighter View Farms, Bay City, Michigan
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