I never meant to grow onions this year. If I’m honest, I think they’re a bit of a waste of space as they are so very cheap in the shops, and there isn’t a huge difference in taste between home-grown bulbs and shop-bought.

But enticed by an offer at my local nursery, I found myself growing ‘Ailsa Craig’, ‘Electric’ and ‘Snowball’ in pots on the balcony and in one bed in my veg plot. I planted the sets in the autumn, and watched anxiously as the sky plonked a load of snow on top of them. Alliums are pretty hardy beasts, but this was pushing it. Interestingly, although all survived, those that grew the strongest were those on the balcony, presumably because they had more sun and the snow melted more swiftly.

When it came to harvesting, I waited for the foliage to fall over and die before I pulled the bulbs. It’s really important not interfere with the plant at this stage: old-fashioned methods of bending the leaves over manually can often bruise the delicate bulb and lead to rots in storage.

After harvesting, I left the bulbs in the sun for a week to allow the skins to form a protective layer around the bulb, which will also encourage a long life in storage. And then I carefully arranged the bulbs in a single layer in my storage boxes, and placed gently in my cool, dry shed, to store for the coming months.

Don’t store any bulbs which have got rots or bruises, or which bolted and produced flower spikes. These won’t last very long at all in storage, and will only spoil the pristine bulbs around them.