I never thought much about onions until I tried to grow a year’s supply of them. Onions were just onions—a necessary component of most nights’ dinners, but not a feature. In fact, onion was probably my least favourite vegetable. My first attempts to grow enough for the year were abject failures. Onion was such a mundane vegetable, I just assumed it would be easy to grow.

I was wrong. First, the tiny seeds didn’t like to germinate in the garden, so I learned to start them indoors, and transplant the seedlings. Then I discovered that onions are very sensitive to drought, and I needed to improve my watering regime or they would never get larger than a walnut. I also quickly learned that they hate competition and I needed to keep the onion bed scrupulously weed free. Finally, I found they were heavy feeders and liked a generous helping of good quality compost in their bed. Such finicky tastes for a vegetable I assumed was little more than a weed!

I did eventually get it right, and can now keep us supplied with onions year round. As with most vegetables, I gained a greater appreciation for subtle differences among varieties when I started seriously growing onions. One of my best “discoveries” has been red onions. The first time I grew them, I cured and stored them like the others, with poor results. They never properly dried, and rotted or sprouted within a month of harvest. What I’ve since realised is that they should be eaten fresh. And when eaten fresh, they are like an entirely different vegetable—so sweet and succulent, that even I like them raw in salads. Now we start eating the red onions as soon as the first bulbs swell. They fit nicely in the food year, between the last spring onion and the storage onion harvest.

The best thing about them is they’ve taught me to better appreciate a vegetable I was never overly fond of before. I think about the times I’ve had French onion soup and didn’t like it. Was it because it was made with the wrong variety of onion? Did I spend the majority of my life unenthusiastic about onions because all I’d eaten were the store bought varieties? Seems I’m going to have to do some more research and try some new varieties. There are dozens to choose from in the seed catalogues!