Planting mail order onions

It's been a cold spring, but the two companies who shipped me young onions decided that March is the right time for planting in my area. I held them for a week in the garage near a window with their roots in water, then headed out into a windy march day to plant.
I bought two varieties: Candy, a sweet onion best eaten fresh, and Red Zeppelin, a red storage onion.
Here are the Candy plants waiting to go into the ground:

I loosened the soil in the bed with a spading fork, incorporating some 10-10-10 granular fertilizer.
Then I made rows about a foot apart, about 3 inches deep.

Next I gently laid the onions into the rows, spacing by eye (about 4 inches apart).

I like to straighten the plants and fill in around them by hand-- it is just too delicate a job for any tool. The idea is to have the soil come up to where the white ends and the green begins, and for the plant to be relatively upright and firmly planted.

Here's the onions planted and labeled:

Finally, I spread straw lightly on top of the planting, to protect it from hard rain and the weight of snow ( yes, we are still getting snow...).

Only time will tell how my little onions survive this chilly spring, but I've given them the best start I could. If they don't survive I will try again with some onion sets in a couple of weeks.