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When
the pods begin to turn brown, pull up the plants, tie them in bundles by the
roots and hang them in a dry, open shed to ripen thoroughly. |
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When quite dry, shell out the seeds and store them in boxes in a cold,
frost-proof shed. |
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| Last
month's Guide* dealt with ripening-off the onions. They must be thoroughly
dry before storing. Onions keep best when the air can get at them freely,
and the easiest way to make sure of this is to hang them up on ropes. This
is a job you can do later on, when you can find the time. First remove all
the roots loose skin and most of the tops. Then hang up a rope about 3 ft.
long, with a knot at the end, and tie a single good-sized onion to the end
of it to serve as a base. For the rest of the rope, tie on four onions at a
time. It is best to grade your onions : large onions on one rope and small
onions on another. |
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Arrange them round the rope and hold them with one hand, while with the
other you tie the tops to the rope by running the string round twice and
finishing with a knot. Cut off the unwanted tops as you go along, but
there's no need to cut the binding string. And so on up the rope, each bunch
fitting snugly on top of the bunch beneath.
Some varieties of onions will not keep for long, for instance,
Giant Rocca, Excelsior and Prizetaker—these should be used first. Ailsa
Craig, Up-to-Date, Bedfordshire Champion and Southport Yellow Globe will
last until Christmas, while varieties such as James's Long Keeping, Giant
Zittau, Nuneham Park and Ebenezer will last until late winter and spring. |
