Status of the onions, more lessons learned, etc

First the wonderful news!  Remember the onion from the blog entry "You learn something new everyday".  I planted the bottom of a green onion (also called a scallion) and discovered it would grow.  Well this is how it's doing now!

So it appears that not only is this possible to do, but it's easy as pie, and the onions grow superfast!  I can see no more buying green onions in my future!!!As you can see I now have four onions planted in that one cup and I just keep adding as I go along.  Later this Spring I intend to move this little bunch out to the garden in our Salad bed.

I have this experiment also going on with leeks currently.  The growth is a tad bit slower but I do see some progress.  These will most likely be going in Bed 2 which also houses currently our Swiss Chard and will also contain some carrots, Red Russian Kale, and various types of peas and beans.




Now, I have to report the sad news that a good portion of our tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and a few other miscellaneous plants have bit the dust.  At first I thought it was due to poor lighting that was making them look so sad and weepy inside.  Then I also noticed Fungus Gnats zooming around so I thought that might be sickening them too.  As a last ditch effort I placed a good portion of the plants outside last weekend.

I'm certain that some of them would probably have survived if not for that.  So I'm back at it again.  Restarting new seeds.  Luckily enough I still have plenty of seeds to use except for the Polish Linguisa from a friend on Youtube.
Now, I've had more than my share of problems with fungus gnats.  First time was when I was a very novice gardener.  This was when I would plant anything anywhere and then wonder "hhhmm, why doesn't it grow!  It has water!"
In the past I've done everything from putting up sticky traps, using Pesticide as a soil drench, or just finally throwing in the towel and throwing the plant outside.
I noticed one person recently on a message board suggested using Hydrogen Peroxide and water mixture so I looked it up and lo and behold, others have had the same successes with this.
Plus it's so simple!  No nasty pesticides all over your plant.  Now I just have to try it!
First you have to allow your soil to dry completely.  Next take 1 part Hydrogen Peroxide to 3 parts water.  Last water your plants with mixture and it should go after the little nasties that are eating the roots of your poor lovely plants.  In my hunt for treating fungus gnats I discovered something else today.  Something called "damping off"
More or less this is all caused by several factors.  Over watering and lack of air circulation are the two biggest causes for this to happen.  So now, once I finally get my darn seeds started again I will be moving a fan downstairs so that they may have their air circulation.  After all the corner of the dining room is most certainly not the best place in the world for sunlight or air circulation.  Unfortunately though, it's all we have.
So what have I learned?  Onions grow really fast when started from a used stub of a old onion; Fungus Gnats can be attacked with Hydrogen Peroxide; Temperatures of 32 degrees will kill many seedlings even though it's sunny out; and stop watering the plants so much and provide better air circulation.  Check, got it.