Onions

ONION SEEDS are short lived. Start with fresh seeds each year.

Think of onions as a leaf crop, not a root crop. When planting onion sets, don't bury them completely in the soil; if more than the bottom third of the bulb is underground, growth can be restricted.

If you suspect thrips -- tiny insects about as fat as a sewing needle -- are visiting your plants, take a dark piece of paper into the garden and knock the onion tops against it; if thrips are present, you'll spot their tan-colored bodies on the paper. A couple of treatments with insecticidal soap kills them. Follow the package directions. Spray the plants twice, three days apart, and the thrips should disappear.

When onions start to mature, the tops become yellow and begin to fall over. At that point, bend the tops down or even stomp on them to encourage the onions to ripen. When the tops are brown, pull the onions and store them at 40° to 50° F in braids or with the stems broken off. Don't refrigerate them; onions spoil rapidly at temperatures in the 30s.

The real secret to growing successful onions is to get them out early. Start seeds indoors about six weeks before transplanting. If you're willing to gamble, move transplants into the garden as early as possible in the spring, after the snow has melted and as soon as the ground can be worked. Onions can take quite a bit of cold and even snow, but not temperatures in the teens.

Be sure to give your onions plenty of water; the stress of drought will give hot onions an intense hot taste, while sweet onions will taste their sweetest when amply watered. Onions look perfectly healthy even when they're bone dry; don't let those fat green stalks fool you.