Onions
Onions: Sowing, planting and harvest calendar
The onion, Allium cepa, is a bulb vegetable in the amaryllis family, Amaryllidaceae. This description covers ordinary bulb onions, whose many varieties differ in shape, colour, flavour and suitability for storage. The labels yellow, white and red mainly describe the outer skins and do not reliably predict taste. A red onion can be quite pungent, while another type may have a noticeably milder flavour.The bulb consists of thickened leaf bases arranged in concentric layers. Dry, papery outer skins protect the fleshy tissues underneath. The underground part is therefore not a large root: fine roots arise from the base of the bulb. Depending on the variety, the bulb can be round, flattened or elongated. Its final size varies too, and a small bulb does not automatically belong to a separate variety.Above the bulb, the green or slightly bluish leaves are hollow and cylindrical. Their upright growth gives a narrow outline in…
