Onions are a simple crop to grow - do you want red, or white? Oops, or maybe sweet onions, or bunching onions, or storage onions. Ok, let's start again. Onions are a crop that give you a lot of options - in what you grow, and how you grow it.
The choice of onion type is only the beginning. You can grow onions from seeds, sets, and sprouts. Sprouts have become the most common way to get good onions, and for good reason. They have a jump on the growing season, and don't cost a whole lot more than a package of seeds.
I usually plant onions all three ways. Plants and sets to get a harvest sooner, and from seed to satisfy my penchant for growing from seed, and to prolong the time the crop will get ripe. From sets and plants you will suddenly have a lot of onions ready at the same time.
Sweet onions don't store well, but they go well on salads, sandwiches, zucchini fritters, and in fresh salsa. Keep them in a cool dark place to extend their life a few extra weeks. My favorite storage onion is the Patterson - no relation to my mentor, and Master Gardening legend Pat Patterson. Most onions have a harvest time indicator. When the tops turn brown, they are ready.
Onions are a bi-annual crop. They produce a bulb the first year, and then use that stored energy to produce seed the next. If your onion sends up a flower head, use the bulb, and put the flower into a vase for a fragrant showy centerpiece - otherwise the whole bulb will disappear before you get to eat it.
To reduce tears, chill your onions before slicing - warm from the garden they will really get you crying.
Onions like rich soil, and do best if they are kept well weeded. Treat them well, and they will enhance all the vegetables your garden produces.
