Now that the weather has finally started to break and we are enjoying some sunny days, we can start planting our maincrop onions for the year ahead.

The best way for the novice to grow onions is to use onion sets, these are like miniature onions that can grow more quickly than from seed, they are more reliable and I find that the onions store better later in the year when I use sets.

The week before you plant the onions you should prepare the bed with a general organic fertiliser, I use chicken pellets that can be bought from any garden centre. The soil should have warmed slightly from the little sun it has had in March and early April, so make a drill about 1 inch deep and sow the sets with the rounded end down, the tip of the set should just be showing through the soil surface when you backfill. The space between the sets should be about 5 inches apart depending on the type of onion you plant.

If any onions grow too quickly they will produce seed heads, this is known as bolting, cut off the stalk and the onion will continue to develop, sometime I find that these onions need to be eaten first as they go rotten more quickly than ones that have not bolted. I also use organic fertiliser because this releases nutrients more slowly so stops bolting and is much better for the environment than chemical ones.

You will know when your onions are ready because the stalks will begin to bend over and will appear flaccid and more yellow in colour. The best way to pick onions is to lift them onto the surface of the soil and leave for a few days. This will break the roots from the plant. Onions need to be dried out and the best way to do this is to leave them outside in a location where the air can get to all parts of the onion. It is important however not to let the onions get too wet or too hot as this will damage them.

When they have dried out you can store then in a cool dark place for a number of months, you should check occasionally for rot at their bases as this can spread to other onions if they are stored together.