Onions

Every year, when Forrest and I decide what to plant, he says, “We don’t need that many things - let’s just plant lots of what grows well that we like. So, like three things - potatoes, onions, garlic.”

And then I roll my eyes and say, “What about cucumbers, and green beans, and peas, and carrots, and swiss chard, and lettuce, and…”

He always responds, “Oh yeah.” I know that he mostly wants to decrease complexity, to make our gardening lives easier, and (probably most of all) keep me from using gardening space to try to grow watermelons which will absolutely never work in our climate. And he’s right. If I were going to grow three things for the most yield and ease of gardening, it would be potatoes, onions, and garlic.

They can all be planted pretty early, making the season nice and long. They hang out under the ground, which means that I don’t have to stress too much about weeding them. They’ll keep down there for awhile, too, so I can harvest at my leisure. And they store well. I have never had to throw out a single onion because it didn’t get used up.

But let’s admit it, they’re a little bit boring. I don’t notice a huge difference between storebought and homegrown onions, unlike tomatoes or carrots, where it’s night and day. And I do appreciate having extra onions right out there in case I run out, but we’re not exactly eagerly awaiting the harvest. I don’t have to shoo my kids away from the onions they way I do with green beans or cucumbers.

They’re the Toyota Corolla of vegetables. Solid, steady, reliable. And I do appreciate them, but not nearly enough. I should appreciate how early they come up, making my garden feel fruitful long before the curcurbits have deigned to germinate. I should appreciate how happy the sight of an onion braid makes me, hanging in my garage. I should appreciate how they don’t attract slugs or bugs or mildew or anything else. They keep themselves to themselves.

For some reason, it’s the finicky plants that grab my attention. The ones who give me the dopamine rush, who can let me down year after year but still keep me coming back for more. (It’s good that I have this gardening thing going on, or you might find me down at the horsetrack.)

So, this year, I’m going to make an effort to give my onions a little more attention. Weed them a little more often and get them out of the ground in a more timely manner. It really is the least I can do.